Manchester United ready to accept half-price bid for Harry Maguire: report

Manchester United captain Harry Maguire during the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Manchester United and Reading at Old Trafford on January 28, 2023 in Manchester, England.
(Image credit: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)

Manchester United are reportedly ready to accept a £40 million loss on Harry Maguire when they try to sell the defender at the end of the season.

The England international has found game time hard to come by since Erik ten Hag took the reins at Old Trafford last summer.

He made just his fifth Premier League start of the season in  Sunday’s 2-0 win over Leeds United, having lost his place to Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez for most of the campaign.

Harry Maguire

Maguire has started just five Premier League games this season (Image credit: Getty)

Maguire has a contract until June 2025 but the Mail Online claims that player and club are both ready to part ways.

United signed Maguire from Leicester City for £80m in 2019, a world record fee for a defender.

But after a difficult season for the centre-back, who turns 30 next month, the Old Trafford hierarchy are resigned to making just half of that back - £40m – when they sell up.

That said, Maguire is valued at €30m (£26.5m) by Transfermarkt, so United could find it hard to find a club willing to splash out that kind of sum.

Lisandro Martinez of Manchester United during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford on August 07, 2022 in Manchester, England

Lisandro Martinez has been preferred to Maguire this season (Image credit: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

The former Leicester, Hull City and Sheffield United man has only made 19 appearances in all competitions this term, despite being club captain and starting the opening two Premier League matches. 

He was heavily involved in England’s mid-season World Cup campaign in Qatar, though, starting every game as Gareth Southgate’s side made it to the quarter-finals.

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Formal bids are set to be submitted to buy United. The club had a quiet January window but brought in Marcel Sabitzer on deadline day after Christian Eriksen picked up a long-term injury.

Former United chairman Martin Edwards, meanwhile, has spoken to FFT about how the club's 1991 European Cup Winners' Cup victory helped changed the perception of English football across the continent.

Alasdair Mackenzie is a freelance journalist based in Rome, and a FourFourTwo contributor since 2015. When not pulling on the FFT shirt, he can be found at Reuters, The Times and the i. An Italophile since growing up on a diet of Football Italia on Channel 4, he now counts himself among thousands of fans sharing a passion for Ross County and Lazio.