Harry Maguire will be on his way to West Ham, but the transfer has yet to be worked out, and in the open part of the press conference, Eric ten Hag confirmed that Maguire will be available for the Wolverhampton match.
In the closed part of the press conference, Ten Hag was asked about the former United captain’s future, and he first chose to answer it in general terms:
We do not have a stable of eleven players. Last season showed that we definitely need all the players, so you need some high-level players who may not start – but that could change, as it’s an internal competition, where everyone has to fight for their place. When the players are good, they want to play games, but no one can play all the games, and eventually you find out who is the better team. In the stable now we have a double in all positions, and everyone can fight for their place. It is up to the players even if they have more or less playing time.
A follow-up question quickly arose to get Ten Hag to speak more specifically about Maguire, to which Ten Hag then replied:
– For Harry, it’s exactly as I described it: he has to fight for his place. He has the qualifications to be a top class centre-back. It’s the best in England, so why can’t it be the best for us too? He has to prove it. When he’s not confident enough to be able to take that fight, he has to go – he has to make up his mind. “But I’m happy with it,” Ten Hag said.
Of course, it wouldn’t make much sense from United’s point of view to speak negatively of Maguire now, because United would be in a process where they could get around £30m for the keeper. According to informed reporters, United are also in full swing in the process of replacing the 30-year-old.
It should also be noted that the press conference took place on Friday afternoon (the quotations from the closed part were a blackout period until Sunday evening), and the situation may have changed also since Ten Hag said this.
We’ll be back with more quotes from Monday morning’s press conference.
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