ESPN pundit not ruling out shock Harry Maguire U-Turn in latest West Ham transfer twist
Jan Age Fjortoft insists Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire could still yet join West Ham before the transfer window closes.
West Ham stepped away from a deal to sign the England international on Tuesday [15 August], although ExWHUEmployee suggested that may merely be a tactic to speed up a deal with their Premier League rivals.
The Irons have other defensive targets lined up [Jacob Steinberg], but former Norway forward Fjortoft – who now works as a pundit for ESPN among others – does not believe the Maguire transfer is completely dead.
Fjortoft posted on his personal Twitter account on Wednesday [16 August]: “Maguire to West Ham can still happen – as can [Benjamin] Pavard to Manchester United.”
Time to move on
Tuesday’s developments came as a major surprise given that West Ham were widely reported to have already agreed a fee with United for Maguire last week [BBC Sport].
The collapse is said to have come down to a disagreement regarding a pay-off [The Independent], meaning that Maguire will now effectively spend the rest of the season – or at least half of it – playing a substitute role at best at Old Trafford.
For all the suggestions West Ham are simply attempting to speed to process along, they only have a little over two weeks of the window remaining to land the centre-back that they crave.
Having failed to get a deal over the line for Maguire at this point, the Europa Conference League winners cannot afford to waste any more time in signing an alternative.
Maguire would have been a great fit at the London Stadium under David Moyes, but that ship has surely sailed.
In other West Ham news, Tim Sherwood has been left baffled by transfer developments at the London Stadium.