Will Jack Grealish, Harry Kane or Declan Rice overtake Maguire as England’s most expensive player?
In a summer where Harry Kane wants to move to greener pastures and Manchester United finally put their hands in their pockets to land Jadon Sancho, you’d have thought Harry Maguire’s £80m record would’ve been blown out of the water by now.
Especially when there is also interest in Jack Grealish and Declan Rice, who are coming off the back of helping England reach their first major final in 55 years.
After those two is the insanely wealthy Manchester City and Chelsea, for whom money has never seemed an object.
Manchester United’s Harry Maguire remains the most expensive English transfer of all time
United are on the verge of signing Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund for £73million
City spent a total of £160m last summer while Chelsea splurged in excess of £200m all while coronavirus was wreaking havoc on economies around the world.
City are owned by Sheik Mansour, who has an estimated net worth of $17billion and a family fortune of at least $1 trillion. Yet Pep Guardiola would still have you believe they can’t afford a striker this summer.
Chelsea are owned by Roman Abramovich, who Forbes have as the 8th richest sports owner in the world. Since he took over the club in 2003, Chelsea have splashed out over £2billion on transfers. They draw the line though on spending £100m on 22-year-old Rice.
With Grealish, City may well yet be prepared to pay Aston Villa’s asking price but it is the player who is having second thoughts.
Should that deal not materialise, at least it would free up funds for Guardiola to go full throttle to try and get Kane.
City are desperate to sign a striker this summer after Sergio Aguero left on a free to join Barcelona and Kane is one of their many targets.
The player wants to leave Tottenham to pursue his ambitions of winning trophies but Daniel Levy has other ideas and is digging his heels in.
Harry Kane could overtake Maguire if he ends up leaving Tottenham this summer for £100m
England star Jack Grealish is also being linked with a £100m move this summer
£100million is the figure that’s been talked about for Kane but no concrete offers have been made for him yet.
Will City, who won the league last season convincingly without an established No 9, pay such a fee for Kane? Nobodies holding their breath.
Especially when Erling Haaland, who has a longer sell-by date and a bigger sell-on appeal than Kane, is on the market.
United are another option for Kane, but after bringing in Sancho for £73m and pushing to get deals for Raphael Varane and Kieran Trippier over the line, the striker’s £100m price tag might be stretching their budget too far.
So, will any out of Kane, Grealish and Rice break Maguire’s record this summer and get their money-spinning moves?
For Kane you fear that Levy’s interference could well prove too big of an obstacle to overcome.
It may take something drastic for Kane to force through a move. And for a model professional like him, that won’t come naturally.
Recent reports however claimed his England team-mates believe he is so hellbent on leaving he could refuse to train with Tottenham if Levy stands in his way of a move.
West Ham told Chelsea they want £100m for Declan Rice, but the Blues aren’t willing to pay it
Grealish is having second thoughts about leaving Aston Villa and may yet sign a new deal
There is certainly much more chance of Grealish making a move this summer, should he choose to.
The interest is there and there are thought to be a number of clubs who would pay the £100m to sign him, but the ball is very much in his court.
Rice’s situation is similar to Kane’s in that he is keen to spread his wings but his club are reluctant to let him go.
Chelsea’s initial doubts about Rice’s suitability for them after Frank Lampard identified him as a target appear to have evaporated but they are not inclined to meet West Ham’s current valuation.
Kane, Rice and Grealish remain the three most likeliest of England’s Euro 2020 heroes to get a big-money move this summer, though Raheem Sterling is also surprisingly being put up in the shop window by City.
The club are prepared to listen to offers for him but it is ultimately considered unlikely for him to leave this summer.
For now Maguire is still the most expensive Englishman of all time. But with over five weeks still remaining in the transfer window, you can’t count out that changing.
