I dunno. I was unconvinced by Maguire too, initially. But he has improved massively. And he brings the ball out of defense, with his lack of pace being a major issue (which impacts how he recovers, how he turns on the break etc). That was what I felt was the major barrier yesterday (the yellow card) in an otherwise excellent performance.
My problem is that Maguire is not a leader of the defence. He is an really good defender, but you would want someone to marshal and lead the defence next to him. Which is why my first instinct was that we need to make a cheeky bid for Ramos if he was leaving, but he seems Paris bound. Honestly though, Varane would be a massive improvement to our backline, but he does suffer injuries fairly regularly. Plus, wages are a stumbling block, according to rumours.
I would love Kounde too, and Athletic recently did a piece comparing them. Kounde has been fantastic and his numbers are off the charts, but his height could prove a major stumbling block. And we have already seen examples of bad heading with Lindelof.
The only options majorly available are Varane and Torres. Do you get the world class defender or the younger version and hope you can develop them? I'd like Varane, but people shouldn't expect he will magically fix our defence, a la van Dijk. He is excellent, and would improve our backline. But then, Maguire needs to get more vocal and start marshalling the defence better along him to get the best out of both of them.
