‘Utd’s Maguire can match Van Dijk’s success’
Liverpool easier to play against than Burnley: Romeu
LONDON, Aug 13, (RTRS): Harry Maguire is ‘tailor-made’ for Manchester United and could soon be as important for his new club as Virgil van Dijk is for their rivals Liverpool, former teammate Jonny Evans has said.
United made Maguire the most expensive defender in world football when they signed him for a reported 80 million pounds ($96.40 million) from Leicester City in the close season.
The fee eclipsed the previous record of 75 million pounds that Liverpool paid Southampton for Van Dijk in early 2018.
Evans, who came through the United youth system and spent more than a decade at Old Trafford, backed Maguire to quickly become a fan favourite with his new club.
Van Dijk has been a transformative presence for Liverpool since joining the Merseyside club, helping them win the Champions League last season and take the Premier League title race down to the wire.
Maguire, 26, made his United debut in Sunday’s 4-0 Premier League victory over Chelsea and showed signs of similar promise with a performance that earned him the manof-the-match award.
Southampton have a better chance of scoring against Liverpool in the Premier League on Saturday than they did in their 3-0 loss at Burnley on the opening weekend because the Anfield side does not resort to long balls, midfielder Oriol Romeu has said.
“It’s easier for us to play against teams who take more risks and play out from the back. There will be more chances to score against Liverpool,” Romeu told the Daily Echo.
“Burnley didn’t play anything from the back because it was all long balls which didn’t give us the chance to get higher up the pitch.
“The chances will come against Liverpool because they will take more risks and that will give us more opportunities to score goals. Hopefully, we can put them under pressure.”
Southampton will be wary of
Leicester’s Ayoze Perez (left), and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Willy Boly jump for a high ball during the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England
on Aug 11. (AP)
their record against Liverpool, however. They have lost their last four league meetings having conceded 11 goals and scoring only one.
Southampton started poorly last season, winning only one of their first 16 games to drop into the relegation zone before eventually finishing 16th, but Romeu is confident they will improve in Hasenhuettl’s first full season.
Wolverhampton Wanderers’ skipper Conor Coady has criticised officials after his team had a goal disallowed by the video assistant referee (VAR) for a handball in their 0-0 Premier League draw with Leicester City.
Midfielder Leander Dendoncker struck from close range early in the second half but the goal was ruled out on review because he had headed the ball onto teammate Willy Boly’s arm before taking the shot.