Maguire 'close to £80m Man City transfer as contract offer blows Man Utd away'

Harry Maguire is set to seal a world-record £80million switch to Manchester City this week.

Maguire is ready to join City ahead of neighbours and rivals Manchester United in a world-record transfer for a defender, which is expected to top the £75million Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk. City are prepared to pay the England centre-half a whopping £280,000-a-week to quit Leicester and move to the Etihad.

Maguire, 26, signed a new five-year deal with Leicester last September when United failed to prise from him the King Power Stadium and he was not looking to move.

But he has told friends that the offer from the Treble winners is too good to turn down and City boss Pep Guardiola believes he can land him in a club-record deal ahead of United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

United refuse to give up on Maguire and Solskjaer is pushing hard to land his top centre-half target.

Leicester will reluctantly cash in on Maguire and believe the rival interest from City and United will push up their asking price.

Guardiola sees Maguire as the ideal successor to skipper Vincent Kompany, who quit City at the end of the season to return home to Belgium to take over as player-manager at Anderlecht.

Maguire is ambitious and feels City will give him the chance to win trophies and fulfil his ambition of playing in the Champions League.

Guardiola pounced following United’s failure to reach an agreement with Leicester over a fee and United were not prepared to meet the Foxes’ £80million asking price.

Maguire will launch City’s summer of spending and they are also set to land Spanish midfielder Rodri from Atletico Madrid after agreeing to pay his £62.5million release clause.