Harry Gate

So it looks apparent that Harry Maguire will be playing for Hull City when the season gets under way. In a bizarre day that has left many scratching their heads the bottom line is that Harry looks to have had a medical and will be announced as Steve Bruce's latest signing as early as tomorrow morning. Nothing looks like holding up the deal, Harry's brother a youngster at Chesterfield FC was quick to congratulate his sibling on Twitter, but what makes this whole thing so strange I hear you ask, well it is the bizarre chain of events. Early this morning Sheffield United released a statement, regretting to inform fans that Hull have made a new offer finaly meeting our valuation for Harry Maguire and the bid has been accepted. Blades fans were to be understandably unhappy but preparations to wish Harry well and thank him for his service began.

Almost one hour later, Hull City release their own statement.

"Sheffield United rejected an offer from the Club five days (Wednesday) ago for defender Harry Maguire. This was the Club’s final offer and we have since entered into discussions with other transfer targets.
In light of Sheffield United’s statement this morning the board will meet with manager Steve Bruce this afternoon to determine whether we now wish to pursue the transfer after the South Yorkshire club's apparent U-turn."

Now this raises the quandary, just what is going on? Who is telling pork pies and who is trying to save face?

Now many things could have happened and conspiracies will no doubt follow in the days to come, but in my mind there are two possibilities, the first and in my opinion the more likely are Hull have gone on the defensive. I mean how dare Sheffield United of League One stand their ground and demand more money from a Premiership side! We should jump through every hoop they have and offer players as sacrifice at the click of their fingers. So they are embarrassed that we set a price and they have had to meet our demands, and the danger in that is, what if they overpaid? What if Harry does a Slew instead of a Walker?

In saying that we pulled a U-turn and accepted an offer that was previously rejected it makes them look like they are the ones in charge, the ones pulling the strings and setting the prices and I do not believe that for a second. I personally would have canceled the whole deal had I been in a position at Bramall Lane to do so, I would not do deals with a club who are happy playing silly games.

Now can I guarantee this is the actual chain of events, can I say confidently that this theory of mine is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? No of course not, not at this stage, so it would be responsible for me to not mention other possibilities, so lets move on to theory two and no doubt the story conspiracy theorists will be clutching to, Harry has thrown his toys out of the pram. Harry did not feature in our last friendly and the reason given, he is unwell, it does not mean he is leaving was the message given by Nigel Clough. Now a few days later it looks as though Harry is on his way out. Now those that like a good conspiracy story will be ready to believe that harry refused to play, demanded that United revise their decision to reject a previous offer and sell him to Hull or face the reality they will have an unhappy player who will not put in one hundred percent in every game, cause problems to team harmony and so on. To me this is ludicrous, Harry has been a constant professional and wouldn't stoop to these silly games, plus if we let him sit on the bench or he purposely played badly or ruined the team then his reputation would be damaged beyond repair and any possible big money move would be off the table in the future for Harry.

Whatever your theory I think we have to accept Harry wanted to move to Hull, and will get his move sooner rather than later, now before we berate him and make him a pantomime villain lets remember all he has done for us,  I for one wish him all the luck in the world for the future, and I hope one day to see him back at Bramall Lane.