Harry Maguire has expressed his admiration for Leny Yoro and Matthijs de Ligt, backing them both to enjoy successful careers as Manchester United defenders.
Yoro had to be patient, of course, after suffering an injury in pre-season that delayed his competitive debut until December. The 19-year-old’s integration is still being carefully managed, but he is already showing the raw attributes that make him such an exciting prospect.
De Ligt, meanwhile, has been much more involved; the 25-year-old Dutchman has played in 29 of our 35 fixtures, across all competitions, and fans have been complimentary about his determined, all-action displays.
In a big interview for Inside United magazine, available to order now, Harry speaks positively about Yoro and De Ligt’s integration.
“They're really good players,”he says. “They're top players, otherwise they wouldn't be playing for this club.
“Obviously, Leny's a young boy with all the attributes to go on to be an elite centre-back. He has everything that you want in a modern-day centre-back at the moment.
“He needs guiding through. Obviously, this is a tough, tough period for the club. But it would be a great learning curve for him and he'll learn a lot from it. And I have no doubts he's going to go on and have a great career for this club.
“Matta [Matthijs] has obviously come in and looked really solid and he's a good player. He's been at numerous big clubs, so he probably knows a lot more about the pressures and the privileges of playing for these type of clubs. He brings great experience and great leadership as well.
“So [they are] two great players to have around the place. Like I said, at the moment, it's a tough period for us on the pitch, but I'm sure there'll be many times where they're both playing and the club have turned things around and they're winning a lot more football matches.”
Within our interview, Maguire also speaks positively about the impact of another defensive signing in Noussair Mazraoui, whose consistency and versatility has impressed everyone.
“I think Nouss has been brilliant ever since he's joined this season,”
says Harry. “He has played a lot of positions, I must say, and he can play anywhere.
“He's just a really good footballer with a real good brain and I think you could play him in any position and he'd perform well because he's just a well-rounded, excellent footballer. It's great to have him in our team.”
Order the latest issue of Inside United magazine to read the full interview with Harry Maguire.