FOOTBALL | OLIVER KAY

Wilfried Zaha for £80m? Harry Maguire for £90m? Prices prove power rests with sellers this summer

Huge TV income means Premier League clubs such as Leicester City can demand £90m for prized assets, resulting in a flat transfer window, writes Oliver Kay
Maguire, Longstaff and Zaha have so far been priced higher than buyers have been willing to pay, while Wan-Bissaka and De Ligt have moved for big fees
Maguire, Longstaff and Zaha have so far been priced higher than buyers have been willing to pay, while Wan-Bissaka and De Ligt have moved for big fees

What price Harry Maguire? No, really, what price Harry Maguire? Eyebrows were raised in 2017 when Leicester City paid £12 million, potentially rising to £17 million, for a 24-year-old who had been part of the Premier League’s worst defence that season at Hull City.

The same is happening now, two years and 20 England caps later, with Leicester warning Manchester City and Manchester United that they will not sell him for less than £90 million.

Is he worth it? By any kind of objective analysis, the answer would be an emphatic no, particularly given that Juventus paid “only” £67.5 million this week to sign the outstanding young Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt. As impressively as Maguire has developed in recent years, he still looks like