Harry Maguire transfer to Manchester United “imminent” - reports

According to reports in The Independent and Bleacher Report, Manchester United have made a breakthrough in their negotiations with Leicester City for the transfer of Harry Maguire. Miguel Delaney in The Independent says that a deal for the England center back is now “imminent.”

The Foxes have reportedly been holding out for a world record fee for a defender, using the amount paid by Liverpool for Virgil van Dijk as a reference point. If the reported fee of £80m plus add-ons is accurate, Manchester United will almost double the record amount they last paid for a defender when they signed Rio Ferdinand from Leeds 15 years ago.

Maguire is no van Dijk — and certainly no Ferdinand — but he is a fine player, and would arguably be United’s best defender on arrival. He is a proven commodity in the Premier League, who should in theory partner well with Victor Lindelöf, and he seems like a generally nice bloke.

United’s transfer business this summer is apparently going to be a series of deals that everyone is aware of, slowly playing out in public with one barely relevant update after another. After all, the Maguire deal has been some version of “imminent” for a week now, according to various reports. But if this does finally get over the line soon, we can all breathe a sigh of relief, before immediately moving on to reading the same sort of updates about Bruno Fernandes.