Manchester United set to make £80m bid for Leicester City star

Premier League giants Manchester United are reportedly ready to launch an £80 million offer for Leicester and England star James Maddison this summer. 

Reports in England claim that the flamboyant creative midfielder is not keen on signing a new long-term deal at the King Power Stadium with the Red Devils poised to swoop. 

The 23-year-old still has three-and-a-half years remaining on his current £50,000-a-week contract, but he could be offered triple the money if he makes a switch to Old Trafford. 

Manchester United raided Leicester last summer for a similar £80m deal for Harry Maguire, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer hoping that the defender can help persuade his former teammate to make the switch to the Theater of Dreams. 

Despite being keen to land Maddison next month to improve the club's languishing season, executive Vice-Chairman Ed Woodward will wait till the summer to strike a deal for the former Norwich ace. 

The Red Devils are aware of the fact that the midfielder is expected to be a vital part of Gareth Southgate's Euro 2020 squad. They will hope to negotiate a move before the tournament starts in fear of the Foxes driving up his price even further. 

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers, who will still be hopeful of convincing Maddison to stay, has already ruled out selling any of his stars in the January window.

 Also, the Foxes finishing in top four and Manchester United missing out on Champions League qualification could change the complexion of the situation as a player of Maddison's calibre would definitely want to play at the top level and that is in the Champions League. 

Speaking last month, Rodgers said: “Every club will lose players at some point but we’ve absolutely no plans to lose anyone in January. “We want to grow and there’s a lot of development left in this squad. Of course good players are going to be linked to other clubs.", he added.

The former Celtic boss further added: "Our job is to keep what we have, which is important and, if there’s an opportunity to improve the squad in January we will look to do that. If not we will carry on with the squad we have, which is very strong. But we’ll certainly not be looking to lose anyone.” 

Maddison has netted five times and assisted a further three for the high-flying Foxes this season to lift them up to second in the table and United believe the former Coventry star is the perfect solution to fill their central attacking midfield position. 

However, the Red Devils are also said to be interested in Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen, who is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a free transfer to Real Madrid.

Featured image credits - ESPN