Harry Redknapp says Harry Maguire would provide a greater goalscoring threat than Rasmus Hojlund if deployed as a makeshift striker for the rest of the season.
In need of a miracle after falling 6-4 down on aggregate in extra-time against Lyon, Ruben Amorim through Maguire up front to try and salvage Manchester United’s Europa League campaign.
And the move ultimately proved a masterstroke, with the Englishman heading home the winner in the 121st minute after late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo had drawn United level.
With Joshua Zirkzee injured for the rest of the season and Chido Obi unable to play in the Europa League, Amorim will be forced to lean on Hojlund as his side look to secure a route back into the Champions League.
But Redknapp believes the Portuguese coach wouldn’t be foolish to consider deploying Maguire as a makeshift target man instead of the misfiring Dane, who has just one goal in all competitions this calendar year.
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‘Do you know what I would do? I’d stick with Harry Maguire up front,’ Redknapp told talkSPORT.
‘I would, I swear. He gets on the end of things, he’s a target. I’d work with him there for the next couple of weeks.
‘They haven’t got anybody. The other boy [Hojlund] can’t score a goal.
‘I’d get him on diagonals. I’d get people around him. He’d be like a Crouchy [Peter Crouch] or something.
‘He’s unstoppable in the air. We’ve seen it over the years. I think Maguire could do a job short term. They’ve got nobody else who can score up front.’
‘He knows how to behave in that space’
While praising his centre-back’s instincts as a makeshift striker, Amorim dismissed the idea that Maguire would find himself in that role all too often.
‘To play a normal game, no. In these moments, it is something that is really important,’ the United boss said post-match.
‘When I see Harry Maguire and I put him as a striker, I just see one guy that inside the box. Is he not good inside the box?
‘In the opposite box he is striker, he is not a defender, he knows how to behave in that space and it is just to put those different characteristics in a different moment.’
‘Maddest game I’ve ever played in’
Speaking shortly after the game, Maguire was almost at a loss for words for what had just transpired during a remarkable finish at Old Trafford.
‘It was an incredible feeling to score that winner in such an important game, in a game that was full of emotion and the strangest, maddest game I’ve ever played in or witnessed,’ he said.
‘I’ve been here six years now and I’ve had some great times and some bad times as well.
‘I think that game pretty much summed up my time at this club, to be honest.
‘I don’t know how I would have felt if I had come here and been speaking to you after a 4-2 defeat – it’s not even worth trying to think about that.’
Amorim’s side now return to Premier League action against Wolves and Bournemouth before their semi-final first leg in northern Spain against Athletic Bilbao.
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