He’s on a decent wedge but far below what United pay their senior squad defenders.
Manchester United, in need of a new defender, are said to be lining up a bid for Leicester’s Harry Maguire after his impressive showings for England at the World Cup. It makes sense, doesn’t it?
The Daily Mail revealed on Thursday night that United may have for fork out up to £50m to bring him to Old Trafford, although added that Leicester’s Thai owners weren’t all that keen to let him depart.
Reflecting this, the same newspaper now reports that the 2016 Premier League winners are preparing an improved contract for Maguire in a bid to fend off interest from United and any other clubs hoping to take him away from the King Power Stadium.
Maguire has been earning £45,000 a week since joining Leicester from Hull a year ago. The Foxes are now said to be poised to open talks over a new deal which would see him earn around £75,000 a week, becoming one of their highest earners.
The new reports stresses that, despite being aware of interest in Maguire for a number of weeks, Leicester still have no intention of selling the defender.
United’s highest paid defender is Antonio Valencia [£100,000 per week], with Chris Smalling [£80k] and both Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly [£75k each] on very good salaries too. Adding Maguire to the United squad would definitely not break the bank and there should be money to go around as Daley Blind and Matteo Darmian [both £60k per week] are set to leave the club.
As for United, Maguire is the latest central defender to be linked with a move to the 20-time Premier League champions this summer. United were said to be £20m short of Tottenham’s valuation of Toby Alderweireld, whereas Jerome Boateng’s unconvincing performances for Germany at the World Cup might have made Jose Mourinho think twice about trying to bring him in from Bayern Munich.
One man who definitely won’t be arriving at Old Trafford this summer is French defender Clement Lenglet. Despite reportedly being on United’s radar, he completed a move from Sevilla to Barcelona earlier this week.
