The United skipper said Pep Guardiola even spoke with him as both Manchester clubs were interested in the defender during his time at Leicester City.
Follow Us
Opening up on his decision to join Manchester United, Harry Maguire has revealed that both the Manchester clubs were interested in him. City’s manager Pep Guardiola even spoke with the defender when he was playing with Leicester City, said the United skipper. In an interview with Gary Neville and The Overlap programme on Sky Sports, Maguire said, “Yeah, they were both interested. I spoke to Manchester City and I spoke to Manchester United, but I must say that I’ve grown up watching Manchester United teams.”
“No disrespect to Manchester City, but I have grown up watching a lot of Manchester United football, at Old Trafford, the iconic status of being one of the biggest clubs in the world, if not the biggest, so I always had my heart set on this club.”
Maguire also opened up about his conversations with both clubs at that time. “I spoke to Pep and obviously the football that they play and what he has done for the club, I have great respect for Pep, the game and the evolution that he has brought to football. But like I say, it was Manchester United and my heart was set from the amount of interest that they showed in me.”
“It gave me great confidence and belief, for them to pursue it over a 12 to 15 month period of time just showed how much they believed in me, and how much they felt like I would be a big part of the team.”
Revealing the conversation with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, he said, “The first time I spoke with Ole, he just told me how much he felt I could come in and improve the team.”
“It was a time when Manchester United wasn’t where it needed to be. On the field, for sure, they were conceding a lot of goals defensively and I knew that I wasn’t going to be the final part of the jigsaw.”
The centre-back moved from Leicester City to Old Trafford in August 2019. He explained how the Red Devils showed interest in him even when Jose Mourinho was the manager of the club.
“With my age, I always felt like I owed Leicester a lot,” says Harry. “I spoke to [owner] Vichai [Srivaddhanaprabha] and he said there had been a lot of interest from Manchester United when Jose Mourinho was the manager. He said, ‘give me one more year and I will let you go’. I didn’t really push anything.
“Obviously, as soon as I heard of the interest from Manchester United, I knew I had my heart set on that and I knew I wanted to play for that club. But, at the age I was, I was 25 years old, I knew I had time on my hands and Vichai stuck to his word, and obviously the move happened.”
