It takes a long time for full details to come out from club sources regarding offers made by West Ham and other clubs during the heat of the transfer market. Whilst Claret and Hugh have our sources very close to the top of the club, details we can extract are often brief exchanges or quick e mails, which often don’t flesh out the full details of player / club negotiations. Only much later do some of the full details come to light.
Back in 2023 you’ll recall David Moyes was widely confirmed to be trying to buy Harry Maguire from Manchester United. This decision put him at odds with Technical Director Tim Steidten, apparently, who favoured younger players. But, according to former West Ham scout Mick Brown who left his post last year and has been filling in some of the gaps with full details of hitherto unknown details – speaking to yahoo news he confirmed that the “Hammers proposed an insulting offer for Manchester United defender Harry Maguire back in 2023.”
So, it is true, as we all thought David Moyes did want Harry Maguire.
Maguire: West Ham made an ‘insulting’ offer
However, far from tempting Manchester United to consider seriously a bid for their defender and former England Captain, Mick Brown said: “But in their wisdom, the West Ham owners went and bid £20m for Maguire,” he added. “It was an insulting offer to United. An insult. They were never going to get him for that price.”
“They didn’t get him in the end, of course, and then they go and pay £40million for Max Kilman this year,”
Good, as far as I am concerned, common sense prevailed in the signing of Kilman and Jean-Clair Todibo too and to my mind the Hammers hierarchy need congratulating for pulling away (or ‘overriding Moyes’ wish’, depending on who’s opinion you read) from Maguire and investing in our new full back pairing.
Strangely it’s been Maguire saving Ten Hags neck at Man U ever since.
I wonder what is a fair price then for Harry Maguire. He would have been 30 at the time and wasn’t getting picked for the starting lineup.
We recently paid a £25 million for Fullkrug. You’d expect to pay more for a striker though but he’s not English. So what would an acceptable price be for Maguire? The word “insulting” seems a bit theatrical as it can’t be far from realistic.
More insulting that we almost wasted £20m on him.
Well that was obviously the idea. We didn’t want him.