Man Utd: Solskjaer announces Harry Maguire as captain
Virgil van Dijk warned Harry Maguire that his world-record transfer fee to Manchester United brings significant pressure but advised him to ignore the doubters. Liverpool will clash with United at Anfield (4.30pm) but that didn’t stop Van Dijk from sharing some wisdom with Maguire, who overtook him as the world’s most expensive defender in football history.
The Reds paid a whopping £75million to sign the Netherlands international from Southampton in 2018 but the record was broken a year later when the Red Devils splashed £80m for the former Leicester centre-back.
But the Dutchman is not at all disappointed about this turn of events as he insists that this sort of price tag comes with pressure as the defender can’t really afford to fail on the pitch.
However, the 28-year-old learned to forget about all the hype that came with his transfer at Anfield and ignored the unfair criticism he received about his performances.
He advised Maguire to learn from his experience and just focus on doing his best on the pitch every week without letting any mistakes affect his confidence.
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“I just like to perform the best way I can and sometimes it comes with mistakes, we can all make mistakes, but you try to be as good as you can and get the maximum out of yourself.
“You just have to do what you love to do and play your best game, get your qualities out on the pitch, help the team. Enjoy all that and don’t think about the other things.”
Maguire was named as United’s first captain following Ashley Young’s move to Inter Milan after eight and a half years at Old Trafford.
Young joined Inter on an initial six-month deal with an option to extend it a further season.