Here are 10 unknown facts about Harry Maguire you did not know!
The new Manchester United signing has become the world’s most expensive defender but we all know this. What are the facts about Harry, we do not know? Read on and find out.
- Maguire was a studious child in the classroom
All study and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well such was not the case for Harry Maguire who had done really well not only in football, but also in school. He was a top student who used to score straight A’s.
His former deputy headteacher, Sue Cain, said: “He had his head screwed on even at that age. He did everything you asked him to do and he never questioned why. He was popular, and he was huge.
“Even at a young age he was very tall but he has filled out since then too. He towered over the other teams. He got A* and A grades in his GCSEs.
“I think he would have gone on to study business or maths and probably would have been an accountant. He was very capable academically.”
2. A footballer who easily could have excelled in other sports.
Maguire has turned out to play professionally in football and has done brilliantly well by becoming the world’s most expensive defender but the talented athlete had genes of multiple other sports in him.
He was a cross country runner, a rugby champion and a brilliant hockey player as well. Just goes on to show, how much of a natural athlete he is and how well he can do no matter which sport he takes up.
Maguire’s strength in rugby comes as the least surprising talent given his physical prowess in football as well and how most players are scared of getting in on a physical tussle with him.
3. A family of footballers.
Have you heard of the Hazards? The whole family plays football. Starting from their father and mother, to all four brothers. The Hazard’s can resist a touch or two of the football.
Well it turns out that for the Maguires, the situation is pretty much the same with all three Maguire brothers playing the game professionally. Moreover, Harry as it turns out is the Eden Hazard of the Maguire family, that is he is the most talented of the lot and by far the most successful.
His other brother Laurence is currently playing for Chesterfield in the National League while the third brother Joe plays his football for Northern Premier League side Gainsborough Trinity.
Laurence has shown potential to make it to the top however, as recently he was picked for the England C side, which is a team for the under 23 side for players outside the football league.
4. A different player or Harry is it?
Harry Maguire has become popular for his fairy tale journey from Hull City a championship below to Leicester City to playing for England in the FIFA World Cup 2018 edition in Russia to now joining Manchester United by becoming the world’s most expensive defender.
However, Harry’s vast achievements, have been wrongly named on him. Harry is only his middle name, as he prefers to be called.
His true name is Jacob Harry Maguire!
5. From fan to goal scorer
Harry Maguire had just gained promotion to the Premier League back in 2016 with Hull City and England were participating in the 2016 Euros. Given the summer weeks off, Harry decided to travel with his friends to watch England in action as a fan! Little did he know he would be travelling two years later with the same team as a starting defender in a World Cup! How quickly things can change.
6. Harry on every money!
How many players do you know whose image pops up on money notes? Well this England star almost made it happen.
Thanks to his World Cup heroics for England, many fans wanted Harry Maguire riding an inflatable unicorn on £50 bills for England. A petition was launched and it went on to receive over 50,000 signatures!
However, Maguire eventually lost to mathematician Alan Turing who was selected to be on the note.
7. Slabhead
Maguire’s famous world cup header got him a rather unflattering nickname. Harry scored a towering header against Sweden to see England through and later in the press conference, his national and former club teammate Jamie Vardy barged in asking, “Hi, this is Jamie Vardy from Vardy News – what is the diameter of your head?”
Vardy later went on to nickname him and “slabhead” and boy has it lasted!
8. Sheffield’s standout star
He came through the academy at Sheffield United and while the club was at League one, he was their star player. He went on to register a record of becoming a part of the PFA League One team of the season and was also player of the season for the club from 2012 to 2014. Boy had glorious stars written all over him from the very start.
9. Kudos to John Pemberton
Maguire started his career as a midfielder and it was only at the age of 16, that his boss John Pemberton converted him to a defender.
“I won’t play you centre midfield while I’m manager here,’” Pemberton told The Times. “As a midfielder, lots of people can do what you do. But as a centre half, no one can do what you can do with a football.
“He’s an intelligent boy. And he took everything on board. We worked on playing out from the back, accepting the mistakes if they made them, but starting a lot of our attacks from the centre backs and full backs. And he took to it like a duck to water.
“He could defend, he could head it, he’s strong, he read the game very well. But what always marked him out as different from everyone else is the way he can handle the ball.”
What a move!
10. Playing in idol’s club
While growing up, it was Rio Ferdinand, the star of Manchester United and John Terry, a Chelsea legend who Maguire looked up to as idols!
“The two greatest centre-halves when I was growing up were John Terry and Rio Ferdinand,” said Maguire, who was speaking at his previous club Hull City in 2016/17.
“I really looked up to them, especially Rio Ferdinand, because he brought the ball out of defence really well. Very comfortable on the ball and he had a bit of everything in his prime. A great centre-half in his time.”
GOOD LUCK AT MANCHESTER, HARRY!
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