Manchester United will have to pay world-record fee for Leicester City defender

Manchester United will have to pay a world-record fee if they want to sign Leicester City centre-back Harry Maguire, according to the latest reports.

They are understood to have offered a sum in excess of £70 million last summer, which was immediately rejected by Leicester.

However, they are still interested in signing the 26-year old with major reinforcements expected at Old Trafford this summer.

But they must break their bank to even stand a chance of signing Maguire, as Leicester have reportedly slapped a mammoth £90 million price-tag on their star defender.

If United do end up paying that, it would make the former Hull City player the most expensive defender ever, replacing Virgin Van Dijk, who cost Liverpool £75 million.

Like many of Leicester’s top talents, Maguire does have a long-term contract with the club with four years still remaining on his current deal.

What that means is that the Foxes are in a very strong position to negotiate and are likely to not let the centre-back leave for anything less than what they want.

Still, Leicester must be careful with what they do and what they don’t this summer. As we understand, Kasper Schmeichel and Ben Chilwell are both headed for the exit door.

If that does indeed happen, that would leave Brendan Rodgers with quite a job to do in the transfer window.

Irrespective of how good the offer on the table is, you surely can’t ship out all of your best players in one summer? Still, if you do, then you have to have a replacement lined-up. Maguire doesn’t have a replacement.