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Why Arsene Wenger turned down the chance to sign Harry Maguire for Arsenal

Harry Maguire: England’s humble World Cup hero on track for big-money move to United or Liverpool
Harry Maguire: England’s humble World Cup hero on track for big-money move to United or Liverpool

You can add Harry Maguire to the long list of players that Arsene Wenger missed out on during his time as Arsenal manager.

Wenger left the club this summer after more than two decades in charge of the North London club, to be replaced by former PSG and Sevilla boss Unai Emery.

He has in the past mentioned some of the players that he failed to sign, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Yaya Toure, Kylian Mbappe, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Maguire, one of England’s best performers of the England 2018 World Cup, has been linked with Liverpool and Manchester United after an excellent season and an impressive showing in his debut season for Leicester City.

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However, when he left Hull, none of the top four were in for him, allowing him to move to Leicester. If Martin Keown had his way, though, he might have joined Arsenal.

Wenger sent Keown out to watch Maguire to scout him during his time before Leicester, and explained that Arsenal thought he was too large a player to have the required mobility.

Keown said: “Somebody asked me to take a look at him and I thought he was a decent player. They thought he was a big player, but was he going to be mobile enough.