Manchester City Should Not Sign Harry Maguire

Lack of Consistency

Another reason why Manchester City should consider staying away from Harry Maguire is he lacks the consistency that many of the Premier League’s top center backs have.

On the surface, Maguire’s defensive stats compare quite favorably with Aymeric Laporte and Virgin Van Dijk, the two best central defenders in the Premier League this season.

Maguire averaged one tackle, 1.2 interceptions, 4.9 clearances, and 0.6 blocks per game this season in 31 appearances. His overall match rating on whoscored.com was a solid 7.01.

Aymeric Laporte averaged 1.2 tackles, 1.1 interceptions, 2.7 clearances, and 0.3 blocks per game in 34 league appearances while posting an average match rating of 7.05.

Virgil Van Dijk averaged one tackle, 1.1 interceptions, 5.2 clearances, and 0.5 blocks per game in his 38 league appearances, posting an average match of 7.44

These stats, however, are a bit deceiving. Maguire had a a lot more defending to do than either Laporte or Van Dijk since Leicester defended more often in games than City or Liverpool did. It’s not surprising, then, that his tackling, clearance, and block numbers are basically on par with them.

He also lacked consistency in his performances, especially when compared to Van Dijk and Laporte.

Maguire had a form rating in the fives in three Premier League games during the season, and was below a seven rating in 14. Laporte had just one league game where his match rating was in the fives, and was below a seven form rating just 11 times. Van Dijk was the most consistent of all, having no games where his match rating was below a six, and had only nine games where he was below a seven in the league.

What makes a player world-class, versus being a good to great one, is being able to play at a high level game-after-game. Though Maguire has runs of games where he’s quite good, he still has his fair share of bad games too. This makes him a less attractive option for a top team looking for a consistent, reliable option.