It was a decade ago this summer that the footballing world was shocked by Real Madrid’s £80m world-record signing of Cristiano Ronaldo from Manchester United.

Fast forward 10 years though and who’d have thought a 26-year-old centre-back who’d just finished ninth in the Premier League with Leicester City would leave for the same price.

Well, that’s exactly what has happened in another window filled with big-money moves.

Harry Maguire penned a six-year contract with Man United on Monday, making him the most expensive defender.

Remarkably, that also makes United’s new number five the second most expensive signing in English top-flight history.

An unbelievable label on a player who was playing in the Championship only four years ago.
But were United right in spending all that money on the defender?

Well, a Twitter thread has emerged this week comparing Maguire’s 2018/19 season stats to other United centre-backs and it’s ultimately shown why he very much is an upgrade at the club.

The thread started off by looking at the passing side of their games with Maguire averaging 52.91 passes per game.

That was more than Chris Smalling with 34.03, Phil Jones with 47.03 and Victor Lindelof’s 45.03, via WyScout.

As for long distance pass attempts, Maguire comes out on top again with an average of 6.53 with Lindelof coming the closest at 3.32.

When it came to average aerial duels, though, Smalling took top spot with 2.37 more than the former Leicester defender at a score of 6.45.

However, Maguire did make the most interceptions last season but lost out to Smalling again when it came to duels won.

Over the past three seasons in the Premier League, United’s new arrival has managed to accumulate more appearances, averaging a total of 32.66.

See the full thread below:

So, based on that thread, it seems Ole Gunnar Solskjaer may not live to regret splashing the cash for the centre-back.