{"id":1096002,"date":"2019-06-29T14:14:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-29T13:14:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1096002"},"modified":"2019-06-29T14:14:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-29T13:14:34","slug":"brendan-rodgers-leicester-harry-maguire-man-city","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/brendan-rodgers-leicester-harry-maguire-man-city\/","title":{"rendered":"How Brendan Rodgers has prepared Harry Maguire for Guardiola’s Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"

The race to sign Leicester City defender Harry Maguire has taken another turn with Manchester United reportedly<\/a> pulling out after being unwilling to pay his \u00a3100m fee.<\/strong><\/p>\n

That is a colossal sum to pay for a player with no Champions League experience to date but such is United’s dire need for quality centre-backs, most fans will likely be disappointed to see their club pulling their interest.<\/p>\n

That said, rivals Manchester City are still said to be keen on bringing Maguire to the Etihad as a replacement for iconic former captain Vincent Kompany, who has taken up a player-manager role at Anderlecht.<\/p>\n

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Even before Brendan Rodgers’ arrival at Leicester City, which saw the Foxes climb nicely up the Premier League table, Maguire was well-renowned for his ability with the ball at his feet, having completed the joint-highest number of dribbles (5) of any centre-back and the sixth-highest number of successful passes (387) across all positions at the 2018 World Cup as England marched all the way to the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

But since the ex-Liverpool boss switched Celtic Park for the King Power Stadium, bringing his possession-heavy style along with him, Maguire has stepped his game up to another level. Whether the 26-year-old is trying to impress his new boss or draw admiring glances from the Premier League’s big guns, Rodgers has had a marked effect on Maguire and potentially prepared him to step straight into Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering team.<\/p>\n

During the first half of the 2018\/19 season, Leicester \u2013 then under the guidance of Claude Puel \u2013 had just a 49.33% share of possession, ranking eighth in the division behind the entire top six and Everton. Following Rodgers’ appointment on February 26, that share was pushed up to 53.97%, moving the Foxes above Man Utd and Everton and into the Premier League’s top six in terms of possession.<\/p>\n

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With that greater share of the ball comes a bigger responsibility on centre-backs to both receive and make passes under pressure as their side plays through the opposition press and into the space that leaves. Maguire, of course, excels in this sort of system. During Puel’s portion of 2018\/19, the England international completed just 24.86 passes in his own half per 90 minutes, making 1.54 interceptions per 90 minutes as the Frenchman’s pragmatic style saw Leicester largely playing without the ball, attempting to soak up pressure.<\/p>\n

During the season run-in under Rodgers, Maguire increased the number of passes he made in his own half to 41.77 per 90 minutes \u2013 quite a substantial jump \u2013 while even his accuracy in this department improved from 91.2% to 93.59%. Maguire’s interception rate dropped to 0.62 per 90 minutes as his role became more about retaining the ball rather than winning it back.<\/p>\n

Even the man himself credited Rodgers for the effect he had on Leicester’s style and results, telling<\/a> reporters in April: “He’s a really good coach who will improve us as a team massively. The club has shown really great ambition in luring him here.<\/p>\n