The reasons behind Tottenham's rumoured interest in Harry Maguire

'Harry Maguire, your defence is terrified!’ was one of the chants of the weekend as the England defender put in a man of the match display in the 2-0 win over Sweden. The strike set the Three Lions on their path to the semi-finals and guaranteed the centre-back a spot in the WhoScored.com team of the quarter-finals. Maguire has become an England cult hero in Russia and unsurprisingly so. 

Leicester won the race to secure his services last summer after Hull’s relegation and it could be that the 25-year-old is on the move again between now and the close of the transfer window next month. While the Foxes are eager to tie Maguire down to a new deal, Tottenham are supposedly favourites to secure the centre-back’s services. 

The north London side are keen on landing another defender with Toby Alderweireld widely expected to leave for pastures new after the World Cup. Spurs are resigned to losing the Belgian, with Manchester United a potential destination for Alderweireld and while his departure would be a blow, if Spurs can command upwards of £50m for the 29-year-old for a player whose contract expires next summer would boost the coffers in Mauricio Pochettino’s need to improve the squad. 

Matthijs de Ligt has been heavily linked with a move to Pochettino’s side, but the Dutch teenager is also a target for Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona, with the trio chasing the ball playing defender and its forced Spurs to look elsewhere in their quest to strengthen at the back. Maguire ticks all the boxes for more than one reason. 

As a player who trained in England from the get go, Maguire wouldn’t take up one of the non-homegrown spots in Spurs’ Champions League squad. It’s one of the reasons why they are pursuing Jack Grealish so rigorously as he too wouldn’t take up a non-homegrown spot in European competition. It was the reason why Erik Lamela wasn’t included in their Champions League squad for the first half of the season and Juan Foyth in the second, with Eric Dier, who spent much of his youth in Portugal, and Ben Davies, who served his apprenticeship with Swansea City under the Football Association of Wales, both taking up non-homegrown spots, despite being fully-fledged England and Wales, respectively, internationals according to UEFA regulations. 

Indeed, Maguire’s signing to go with Alderweireld’s exit would free up one of these spots, which would serve as a boost for Pochettino. Crucially though is that Maguire’s forward thinking approach to defending has been a welcome breath of fresh air and helped transition this England side from an outdated system to a more positive, modern approach. 66 passes per 90 is the third best of all England players at the World Cup, with the centre-back returning a pass success rate of 87.3%. 

While both returns in the Premier League - 45.8 and 78.4% - are below that of his England figures, Maguire has proven his ability to perform to the best of his ability in a team that sees both little of the ball and a larger share of possession for club and country. In a Tottenham side that averaged the second most possession (58.8%) in England’s top tier last term, Maguire has the means to slot in seamlessly and having excelled in a three-man defence, earning a WhoScored.com rating of 7.43, would offer increased defensive flexibility for Pochettino. 

That being said, convincing Leicester to sell will prove easier said than done. His value will have skyrocketed over the duration of the World Cup and a fine debut campaign at the King Power Stadium has made him a fan favourite. He’d provide stiff competition for a starting spot at Tottenham, but furthermore, allow Pochettino to revert to a three-man defence when the opportunity presents itself. Of course, it’s little more than pipe dream for Spurs supporters, with Maguire gearing up for England’s semi-final meeting with Croatia, but the centre-back would be a welcome addition for the north London side.