Following a late-night accusation by Kevin Nolan, Manchester United outcast Harry Maguire has now disclosed the reason for his refusal to join West Ham.
There were speculations during the summer transfer window that West Ham was close to signing Harry Maguire from Manchester United for £30 million, a deal that appeared to be moving forward. As the transfer window closed, West Ham manager David Moyes redirected his efforts and signed Greek international Konstantinos Mavropanos instead, a player £10 million less expensive and five years younger than Maguire.
While many West Ham fans applauded the news, Manchester United fans, who had hoped to see Maguire leave, were disappointed. United’s manager, Erik ten Hag, was found to have needed to produce finances for his own acquisitions, with a deal for Benjamin Pavard falling through due to a lack of available funds.
There were numerous accusations and counterclaims as to why Maguire’s transfer to West Ham fell through. Some thought he didn’t consider West Ham to be a big enough club, while others thought he wanted to compete for a position at Old Trafford.
Another possibility was that he did not want to move his family. The prevailing view, though, was that Maguire and Manchester United couldn’t agree on his severance compensation for the final two years of his £190,000-per-week deal.
West Ham assistant coach Kevin Nolan recently revealed on talkSPORT that Moyes had been in contact with Maguire and that the transaction was extremely close to being completed. Nonetheless, it collapsed owing to a financial settlement dispute between Manchester United and Maguire.
Maguire has now spoken out, confirming that the aborted move to West Ham was due to their inability to secure a severance arrangement with Manchester United. Maguire highlighted his ambition to play football in an interview with The Express, stating that the standstill in discussions led to his choice to stay at Manchester United, where he is keen to battle for a role in the team.
