Manchester United are open to selling Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo should they finalise a world record deal for Leicester City centre-back Harry Maguire.
Maguire would become the world’s most expensive defender if United meet Leicester City’s transfer demands of £95m for the player, as reported by The Times.
The England international would be an upgrade on anything currently available to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who is trying to implement his own approach on the team. He will need to see better displays at the back than last season if he’s to have any chance of getting the club back into the Champions League.
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All signals suggest Maguire wants to join United, so it’s only a matter of United finding an agreement with the Foxes before we have a new centre-back at Old Trafford.
But the Red Devils could potentially look elsewhere if they fail to comprehend Leicester’s demands.
According to Manchester Evening News, Smalling and Rojo will be allowed to leave United should they sign Maguire.
There are currently six centre-backs available to Solskjaer with Axel Tuanzebe having been promoted to the first-team squad, but this doesn’t mean we’ll find a buyer with both players still under contract on deals they wouldn’t get elsewhere.
I’d imagine Eric Bailly would be under the same umbrella had he not been ruled out for months with a knee injury, he’s gone backwards since joining the club in 2016 from Villarreal.
And, Tuanzebe deserves his chance this season regardless of who comes in.
English clubs can make transfers until August 8, whereas foreign clubs have a longer period to get deals over the line — including players in England.
