The indomitable Harry Maguire has watched and worked with some of football’s greatest defenders during more than 15 years in the game.
In the first episode of our new ‘Influencers’ series, which you can watch below, our popular centre-back reviews footage of five former Reds who’ve had a huge impact on his career, starting with…
1: STEVE BRUCE
“Steve had a huge impact. It was a big reason behind me joining Hull. I had a couple of clubs in for me that year [2014]. I can remember signing for Hull, with Steve the manager, and they were one I really wanted to go to. Obviously, Hull’s a great club as well and I loved my time there, but I must say he was a big influence on why I wanted to sign there, just because I knew what he did for Manchester United. I knew the style that he played, and I knew that he was an amazing centre-back so I could get so much knowledge from him, and I was at an age where I was desperate to learn and get better and improve. No doubt, having Steve as my manager for three years helped me a lot along the way.
“Not so much now, but when I was a young boy and coming up, I was always really good on the ball, and I always just wanted to impress and express myself when I was on the ball and drive forward with it and run up the pitch. I probably focused more on the ball than I did on defending, so I think when I joined Hull and Steve, he really started to make me realise that I am a defender and I need to defend first! And he put into my game what you could see in his game – the no-nonsense defending, how to defend properly, how to defend your box really well. He was a great man-manager, an amazing man-manager, and a great manager as well. I learned a lot from him.”
“Rio could defend, no doubt about it – you don’t have the career that he had without defending – but he was excellent on the ball and driving the ball up the pitch, and that was something that I felt was one of the strongest parts of my game, especially when I was younger and I could run up and down the pitch all day without breaking sweat! That was a massive part of my game, driving the ball out of the back. Rio was probably the one in that era who did it, really. There weren’t many others, so I felt like he always stood out for that. He’s someone I did learn from, really, and obviously he had a magnificent career at Manchester United and won everything. He was a top-class all-round defender.
“I was always a midfielder until I was 16 years old, when I shot up and I was taller than everyone, and I ended up at the back. That’s how it used to be! I think it’s probably changing a little bit now, because you get some midfielders that are that size now and dominating the midfield in terms of duels and things. But I was always a midfielder, so that helped massively – that I was always comfortable on the ball – and growing up and playing at Sheffield United I was always seeing myself as a real good ball-playing centre-back. Rio was excellent on the ball as you could see, but he also was a top-class defender as well and really calm. I think that was a big thing that I learned from him as well: playing the big situations real calm. He did that really, really well.
“I’ve always said Rio could play in any era. But for sure, nowadays, in this era. Actually, this season it’s probably been a little bit less than the last five or six years about being comfortable on the ball with defenders and building up from the back, every attack starts from a defender... you’ve seen this year that it’s a little bit less building up from the back than it has in the previous years. It’s turning more into long balls, but it does go round in cycles. But the last eight years or so, since I’ve been playing, building up from the back has been a massive part of the game... Rio played in an era where many centre-backs weren’t doing those sort of things, so he really stood out for me.”
“I think Victor was an excellent player. I believe he didn’t get the credit he deserved when he was playing at this club, although he obviously played so many games and he always played under managers. But he was an excellent player and we had an amazing relationship on the pitch. The first two years I think, if I’m right, we kept the most clean sheets in Europe in the first year, and maybe second or third in the second season. We kept loads of clean sheets, we defended properly, we defended well. So I’ve probably played the most games with Victor, and I believe our relationship on the pitch was as strong as I’ve had with anybody.”
“Rapha was a winner, a born winner. And he was great for the club. He obviously came after having all those years at Real Madrid and had so much experience. So if you didn’t learn from him, you’re not going to learn from anybody! He was an excellent player, a great person as well. A great person to have in the dressing room; a proper leader, a proper winner. Not the loudest, but with his presence and his aura, he brought great leadership. It was a pleasure to play alongside him. When he was at Real Madrid, he was arguably one of the best defenders in the last 20 years.”
5: JONNY EVANS
“He’s a great guy. Really calm, a real good player. When I speak about underrated players, I’d say Jonny, for me, was probably the most underrated player I’ve ever played with. If I was a young boy, or I was teaching someone to watch defending and watch body positioning and watch movement, I’d say: ‘Watch Jonny Evans.’ He was that good at his body positioning and the way that he’s so active in every part of the game. There are a lot more things to defending than making last-ditch tackles and making big challenges. They get the plaudits from the fans, but your body positioning, your footwork, the understanding of where you need to be... and the main thing as a defender, I always say, is being active in every part of the game, and Jonny was the best I’ve played with in terms of that. So he was an excellent player, and obviously coming towards the end when he came back to us at the club. But you could still see his quality. I saw a lot more of his quality obviously when he was at Leicester in his prime. But he was amazing to play with.”
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