Four years ago, Manchester United paid a record-breaking 80 million pounds ($101 million) to make Harry Maguire the world's most expensive defender following his move from Leicester City.  

Even to this day, after Croatia center-half Josko Gvardiol completed a stunning 77.8 million pounds move to Manchester City last week, Maguire still remains the planet's costliest defender.  

However, the 30-year-old English star's eventful time with United is about to come to an end.  

After months of rumors about his future and weeks after being stripped of the captaincy by United manager Erik ten Hag, Maguire is set to join West Ham for about 30 million pounds after the two parties agreed to a deal on Wednesday.

It represented a miserable end to what was a sensational transfer at the time. Maguire arrived as the second-most expensive signing by an English club, after Paul Pogba, and a key player in England's 2018 World Cup campaign. 

He was given the captain's armband in his debut season at Old Trafford and started every Premier League game under then United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He was considered a defensive rock at the back and part of an indisputable team leader. 

But Maguire's lack of pace and mobility was exposed in recent years, as evidenced by his dismal performance in United's 6-1 home thrash by Tottenham and the 5-0 rout by arch-rivals Liverpool. He made a remarkable 16 errors leading to goals in 2020/21. 

Last season, Ten Hag was appointed as the new manager, but things went from bad to worse for Maguire despite the change of leadership. He started the first two games of the campaign, the home loss to Brighton and the shock 4-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford. 

Due to those catastrophes, Maguire only made eight league starts in 2022/23 and slipped down to fifth choice center-half under Ten Hag, with Rafael Varane, Lisandro Martinez, Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw all ahead of him. 

As the signal for the end of Maguire's United career, Ten Hag took the captaincy away from him in July and gave the armband to Portuguese playmaker Bruno Fernandes. "Everyone can understand it is disappointing for a player, but it can actually work out well for the team and for Harry," explained Ten Hag. 

Maguire's nightmare continued in the pre-season as he was booed by United fans and publicly shouted at by new teammate, Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana for an errant pass during a friendly against Borussia Dortmund. It was a saddening indictment of how far Maguire had fallen in stature. 

To his credit, despite having fallen out of favor, Maguire still retains an impressive professional spirit, never once airing grievances about United or Ten Hag in public.

It remains to be seen whether Maguire will revive his career in West Ham, who are looking to bolster their squad after selling their local hero Declan Rice to Arsenal for 105 million pounds. The English midfielder's exit leaves West Ham without a charismatic leader and Maguire could fill the void if he can rebuild his confidence.  

Manager David Moyes always speaks highly of Maguire and has convinced the board to move for the veteran. West Ham's current defenders Kurt Zouma and Nayef Aguerd have both had injury problems, and Moyes urgently needs Maguire to rediscover his best form away from the glaring spotlight of United. 

For Maguire, United, and West Ham, a fresh start could potentially lead to a win-win outcome for all parties involved.