Manchester United defender Harry Maguire has clarified that he was not the cause of his failed summer move to West Ham.
The Hammers had expressed interest in signing Maguire, and manager David Moyes was eager to strengthen his central defensive options.
But the deal didn’t happen, with West Ham pulling out of talks.The Guardianclaimed that the Hammers had ‘grown tired’ of waiting for Maguire to finalise his exit from United, amid reports that the England defender wanted a pay-off in order to leave the club.
West Ham eventually looked elsewhere, and signed former Arsenal defender Konstantinos Mavropanos from Stuttgart. New signing Edson Alvarez, although primarily a defensive midfielder, can also play in central defence.
Maguire, meanwhile, stayed at United, yet has struggled for minutes this term under manager Erik ten Hag.
The defender has only started one game – the 2-1 win over Brentford on Saturday – but was one of the top performers at Old Trafford.
Maguire has also retained his place in the England side under Gareth Southgate.
Now, ahead of England’s international friendly against Australia on Friday, Maguire has opened up on why his West Ham move fell through – and says it was due to circumstances out of his control.
🚨🔴 Harry Maguire on West Ham deal collapsed: “The actual opportunity to go to West Ham, it wasn’t agreed between both clubs and myself”.
“West Ham are a massive club but my full focus is still on Manchester United and I want to fight for my place”. pic.twitter.com/ZIM8nODxKP
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) October 11, 2023
He said (quotes viaMetro): “Regular game time is really important to me, it has been throughout all my career.
“The actual opportunity to go to West Ham wasn’t really agreed between both clubs and myself, so it wasn’t just my chance to say ‘yes’ and I’m going.
“The actual opportunity wasn’t there because we didn’t get far enough down the line with it. West Ham are a massive club, my focus is still on Manchester United. I want to fight for my place but, of course, game time is really important to me.”