West Ham United stance on £30m Harry Maguire transfer emerges amid Erik ten Hag warning at Manchester United as Aston Villa lurk
West Ham are “growing confident that a deal can be struck” for Harry Maguire amid a warning at Manchester United from Erik ten Hag, according to The Telegraph.
The newspaper reported via their website late Sunday night (13 August) that the Hammers are “confident of wrapping up” a move for the England international, 30, despite being yet to agree personal terms since having a bid of £30million accepted.
Meanwhile the Dutch manager at Old Trafford has warned the centre-back that he must “make a decision” whether to “fight for his place” in Manchester or if “he is not confident enough to fight then he has to go”, after he stripped Maguire of the captaincy this summer.
It emerged on Sunday that Aston Villa are prepared to launch a hijack of the move for Maguire and beat the West Ham offer if scans reveal that the injury suffered by his England teammate Tyrone Mings against Newcastle a day earlier is serious.
Time is now
It isn’t a great sign for the move to still not be getting finalised days after the breakthrough on a deal was reached with Manchester United.
Sky Sports reported on 9 August that personal terms were not expected to be a problem as the clubs struck an agreement, so unless Maguire is having second thoughts it is unclear why a contract hasn’t been tied up with him.
There have been suggestions that his current club are dragging their feet on the deal as they look to get themselves ready to sign a replacement, but every day that goes by will be a frustration to David Moyes and indeed the West Ham fanbase.
The potential threat from Aston Villa may well need to be taken seriously if the hold up persists much longer, with Unai Emery having been backed in the market so far and the project under the Spaniard clearly ambitious.
Moyes wants to fortify his defensive options amid injuries to the likes of Kurt Zouma, Nayef Aguerd and Angelo Ogbonna in the past year.
The manager finally got Edson Alvarez through the door as the first signing of the summer at long last and should have James Ward-Prowse to go with him.
But in what has turned into an infuriating transfer window following the £105m departure of Declan Rice to Arsenal the recent lack of progress on Maguire’s move, just when it looked like it was imminent, is the latest frustration.
In other West Ham news, the club have accepted they are going to lose yet another key man this summer and are trying to land a building block in return according to Jacob Steinberg.