Former Liverpool hero Danny Murphy believes critics should cut Manchester United defender Harry Maguire some slack and stop comparing him to star centre-back Virgil van Dijk.
United shelled out an £80million fee to bring England international Maguire from Leicester City to Old Trafford in record-breaking deal that saw him overtake Van Dijk as the world's most-expensive defender.
However, Murphy believes comparisons between the two are unfair and explained that the Reds centre-back is a "better player in every aspect".
He told talkSPORT : “Man United have got to be better defensively, that’s been proven this season.
“With Harry Maguire, people just compared the price tag with Van Dijk, and that’s not right.
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"You can’t compare Maguire to Van Dijk. Van Dijk is a better player in every aspect. He’s never going to be Van Dijk.
“He’s never going to be that quick, he’s never going to be as good a passer, he’s not going to be Van Dijk.
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“But what he has done is he’s made United better and he’s going to get better.
“United’s defensive record since the restart has been good and he’s been part of that.
"He’s played every minute of nearly every game to be fair to him and he looked a bit leggy against Sevilla, which is understandable. So cut him a bit of slack.”
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