Manchester United have agreed a world record £80million fee with Leicester City for Harry Maguire.
According to The Sun, United will pay £60m up front and a further £20m in add-ons which will render the 26-year-old the most expensive centre-half in world football, eclipsing the £75m Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk back in January 2018.
Reports on Saturday claimed the England international was ‘angry’ at Leicester, who had rejected a series of offers from United with Maguire fearing he would be priced out of a dream move.
With a fee now agreed, however, the player is set to undergo a medical in Manchester on Monday, before linking up with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s first team squad who started their pre-season tour of Australia with a 2-0 win over Perth Glory on Saturday.
United attempted to sign Maguire last summer following his World Cup heroics with England, but Leicester held firm and retained the player they signed for £17m fro Hull City in the summer of 2017.
Jose Mourinho was thwarted in his attempts to sign more experienced alternative targets following a series of disagreements with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, who was said to have been unsure that Maguire, as well as the likes of Jerome Boateng and Toby Alderweireld, represented value for money.
Solskjaer, however, appears to have had better luck in convincing his superiors that Maguire is the right man to build a new-look defence around, concurring with Sir Alex Ferguson who last month was said to have been bemused by his club’s dithering.
More to follow…
