David Moyes was fully aware of Harry Maguire’s promise when he was Manchester United boss – but was worried he was going to be too big!
The Red Devils completed the Premier League’s biggest deal of the summer transfer window by signing the Leicester City defender for £80million.
After the deal was done, a transfer report from back in 2013 was dug up that claimed Moyes had scouted a young Maguire when he was impressing in League One with Sheffield United.
It was even suggested he had the opportunity to sign the-then 20-year-old for a bargain £4m, but ultimately decided not to.
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Moyes, who was a special guest co-host on Tuesday’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, explained all to the talkSPORT listeners: “We didn’t try to sign him [during his spell at Man United] but we flagged him up at that time.
“I was very aware of the players in the lower leagues and had a made good career out of bringing them to Everton – whether that be Tim Cahill or all the ones we did through the years.
“Harry Maguire was another one I recognised. He played against Preston North End at home in a league game and I watched him and thought he played really well but at that time he was really big.
“You thought ‘my goodness, how big is Harry going to be’ because he was a relatively young boy at that time.
“To be fair he looks in terrific shape and he hasn’t changed at all really. When I went to United, we had Vidic, Rio, Jonny Evans, Michael Keane, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling so for us to go and buy another young centre-half wasn’t the biggest thing we needed at the time.
“And Harry Maguire has had to go on his journey. Sometimes the players need the journey to get to where they have to go. He might have struggled then.”