Harry Maguire to West Ham was ‘very close’, says Kevin Nolan, who explains why move from Manchester United fell through

West Ham coach Kevin Nolan says they were ‘very close’ to signing Harry Maguire this summer.

Having lost his place as a regular starter at Manchester United, the 30-year-old was heavily linked with a departure from the club.

Maguire was a summer target for West Ham amid his uncertain future at UnitedGetty

Nolan told talkSPORT just how close the Hammers came to signing him

West Ham were keen on bringing the former Leicester defender to east London and agreed a £30million deal with United.

However, even though it looked as though a move would happen, the deal fell through and Maguire has remained at Old Trafford.

After failing to secure the England international, West Ham went on to sign Konstantinos Mavropanos from Stuttgart instead.

But it could have been very different for the Hammers if they signed Maguire, with Nolan exclusively revealing to talkSPORT: “I think it was very close, I was a bit upset that we didn’t make it [happen].

“I think it was just in the end, the money didn’t get sorted from what I can gather which is obviously upsetting from our behalf because we wanted to [sign him].

“Probably upsetting from Harry’s behalf and probably United’s behalf as well.”

When asked if he had spoken to the defender, he added: “I think the gaffer was in contact with Harry, his agent and everything else but yeah, obviously we then had to move onto our next target.”

Maguire has made just one appearance for United this season, coming off the bench in their 3-1 defeat to Arsenal on September 2.

Maguire came under further criticism on England duty despite his unlucky own goalGetty

Despite his experience he lost the club captaincy during the summer, with Bruno Fernandes taking over the role.

Maguire was named in Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the recent international break and featured in the Euro 2024 qualifying draw with Ukraine.

He came on at half-time in their friendly against Scotland and scored an unfortunate own goal.

The Three Lions went on to win 3-1 but after the match, Southgate launched a passionate defence of Maguire as he labelled his critics as ‘a joke’.