I don't see 20m as a joke; I see Maguire's wages reflective to his quality as a joke.
No, his wages are not a 'daft' argument. Most players (most people) will not accept wage cuts, even if they're already rich. This obviously limits his transfer value because mid table teams (Maguire's level) cannot afford large transfer fees AND high salaries. Especially for an aging player with no sell on value.
Name me a player over 30 purchased by a mid table club for over 30m on over 180k pw? I'll wait...
In a sense, it’s easier and more complicated than that. It’s just a question of the needs and wants of three parties: United (what is the value of Maguire as a 4th CB vs the economical value of sales price plus wage riddance); Maguire (what is the value of 200k per week and being sub in CL games vs value of playing regularily and securing NT spot), and Potential Buyer (value of money for purchase plus wage vs a CB of Maguire’s potential and experience). And then it’s negotiation.
i would argue United’s hand is quite good here: if they sell Maguire, they need a fourth CB of a certain quality. If they needed a new super-CB, it would be great to sell Maguire to pay for part of the wages and price of say a Kim. But with Varane, Lisandro and Lindelöf as back up, that is not high on the list. And to buy a player good enough to be 4th choice for United, well, they could save some money selling Maguiredue to the salary, but not a lot. If Maguire/agent puahes for compensation, it makes more sense to keep him around as no 4.
It’s different for Maguire. If he stays at United, he will not play a big part, and his NT spot will be jeopardized. It’s also probably a bit of a blow to the self esteem to be demoted from captaincy and be an established squad option for a guy like him. If I were him, I’d be willing to sacrifice quite a bit of salary to avoid all that, but who knows. Either way, even if he desperately wants to leave, it’s in his interest to say he wants to stay, not to undermine his negotiating position. But in the end, he may have to choose between playing for an OK team at reduces aalary, or hanging around to collect wages and watch football games at OT.
A Potential Buyer won’t give a toss about his wages, they’ll see what is the most expensive package of Harry Maguire vs some other candidate of equal quality. If the package is to expensive, they move on, regardless ofwether it’s the wages or the club compensation that is tje biggest part of it.
Forced to guess, I’ll venture that Maguire will move to someone like WH for something like 25m plus some add ons (games played e.g.) and a reduced salary, and no compensation from Utd. But we’ll see.