Maguire Is No Van Dijk – Paul Parker

Manchester United may have parted with £80 million ($97m) on Harry Maguire, but ex-player, Paul Parker has said “everyone knows he is not worth that money” and the coach is under intense pressure after the transfer.

So far, Man Utd have reached transfer deadline day with only 3 new players added to the team.

Maguire, Daniel James, and Aaron Wan-Bissaka have come in, and Herera and Lukaku have both exited Old Trafford.

The former Red Devil, Parker has now said more proven stars are needed in order to make Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team more competitive and the scot is now under more pressure.

He said, “Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is under a lot of pressure. He needs a good start and he needs his team to show consistency. People are questioning how that team fell apart after such a good start,”

“They capitulated – their performance at Everton (a 4-0 defeat in April) was like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand, it was awful. So Ole is under immense pressure.

“United have addressed a situation that the fans have been screaming for. They’ve been saying that their centre-halves are rubbish, which was implanted in people’s heads by Jose Mourinho.

“The best way to shut the fans up is to go and spend £80m on a defender who everyone knows is not worth that money.

“The hope is that Harry Maguire can have the same impact that Virgil van Dijk has had at Liverpool, but you rarely get two bangs out of a stick of dynamite. I really don’t see how Maguire is going to come out and play in the same vein as Van Dijk. They’re hoping that he can make the defence better, but there’s a massive amount of pressure on him.

“United still have problems elsewhere, in midfield where there’s a lack of creativity. There’s been talk of Christian Eriksen coming in there, and then up front, Romelu Lukaku wasn’t the ideal frontman that United need.

“If you take Lukaku’s goals away, there wasn’t enough substance. They need another centre-forward as at the moment they’ve not got anywhere near enough, they can’t rely on what they’ve got unless someone hits the ground running and keeps at that pace throughout the nine months of the season.”