Paul Scholes claims new Man Utd signing is ‘not an upgrade’ on £80m defender
Man Utd legend Paul Scholes claims that new signing Matthijs de Ligt isn’t an upgrade on Harry Maguire, according to reports.
Maguire, who arrived at Man Utd from Leicester City for an £80m fee in 2019 has come under immense pressure over the last couple of seasons at Old Trafford with the centre-back receiving more criticism than any other Red Devils player.
But his steady performances over the past year have gone under the radar with Maguire getting his head down and attempting to get back to his best form.
There were plenty of rumours in the summer that Man Utd were trying to offload Maguire as they brought in De Ligt from Bayern Munich and Leny Yoro from Lille – but the England international remained at Old Trafford.
And Ten Hag admitted at the beginning of September that Maguire would “play an important role” for Man Utd over the season.
Ten Hag said: “We have a squad who have more than 11 starting players. We need rotation throughout the season to keep everyone fit because no one can play all the games.
“But Harry Maguire will definitely play an important role for us. I’m very happy for him that he’s back (in the England squad) and it tells something about his performances in the last couple of games.”
Man Utd agreed a €50m fee to buy De Ligt from Bayern Munich in the summer and the Netherlands international has not quite filled the Red Devils supporters with confidence so far.
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Former Man Utd midfielder Scholes is already doubting that De Ligt will be an upgrade on Maguire, he told The Overlap: “Erik ten Hag couldn’t wait to get Matthijs de Ligt instead of Harry Maguire, he was just waiting for the opportunity.
“I’m not sure it’s that much of an upgrade – De Ligt played against Southampton, Maguire would have been fine against Southampton.
“He might be slightly better, but it’s not a massive improvement where you think, ‘Wow’. It’s like that with all the signings.”
On Ten Hag taking time to embed new signings, Scholes added: “Manuel Ugarte was announced on the pitch for the Liverpool game and then he went away with Uruguay and with the South Americans, they don’t come back until a Friday sometimes and then they played at 12:30pm on a Saturday at Southampton.
“[Erik] ten Hag’s a bit like that with his new players, he seems to take a little bit of time to bring them in – [Matthijs] de Ligt was the same. The only one who has come straight in is [Noussair] Mazraoui.”
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