Manchester United could've signed Harry Maguire for £4m

Bengaluru, July 16: Manchester United are edging closer to a deal for Leicester City centre-back Harry Maguire which could also be the record fee for a defender.

He is likely to command a fee in the region of £80-90m which means it would surpass the current record for a defender, the £75m Liverpool paid Southampton in January 2018 for Virgil van Dijk.

Now, if Maguire has an impact alike Van Dijk, the £80m will end up looking like a perfectly reasonable price. However, United could have saved themselves almost £76m if they had listened to then-manager David Moyes six years ago.

The 26-year-old English centre-back was in Sheffield United back in 2013 and reportedly Sir Alex before hanging up his boots, looked at the defender as a future addition.

Sir Alex Ferguson had put his compatriot David Moyes onto the scene by predicting Maguire would turn into a world-beater and suggested he make a move for him.

The defender would have cost the Red Devils a mere £4million back then and Moyes directed Manchester United's scouting team to keep an eye on him on Ferguson's instruction.

But despite keeping track of the youngster for a while, the Old Trafford management decided against making a move for Maguire.

Maguire went on to move to Hull City a year later, and Leicester three years after that becoming one of the best defenders in the Premier League. He now has made over 20 England caps - as well as a goal at the World Cup skyrocketing his value each and every day.

It's tough to say if his development would have been the same if he joined United six years back but now Solskajer and Co can only hope for is that he's worth the wait and the lump sum amount.