World’s most expensive defenders following Maguire’s Manchester United move pushing Liverpool man to second place

Harry Maguire has become football’s most expensive defender after completing his £80million move from Leicester to Manchester United.

Here, is a look at the other top deals for defenders which Maguire’s move to Old Trafford has eclipsed.

Virgil Van Dijk – £75million, Southampton to Liverpool (January 1, 2018)

Virgil Van Dijk played a huge part in Liverpool becoming European champions in June (Mike Egerton/PA)

Eyebrows were raised when Liverpool paid Southampton a world-record £75m fee for the Holland centre-half’s services. But Van Dijk has proved an enormous success, helping Liverpool reach two Champions League finals, the latter resulting in a 2-0 victory over Tottenham.

Lucas Hernandez – £68million, Atletico Madrid to Bayern Munich (July 1, 2019)

France World Cup winner Lucas Hernandez joined Bayern Munich from Atletico Madrid this summer (Owen Humphreys/PA)

The Marseille-born France international moved to Spain at the age of four and joined Atletico Madrid’s junior set-up seven years later. Hernandez became a World Cup winner in 2018 and he made over 100 appearances for Atletico before Bayern announced in March 2019 that he would be joining them this summer.

Matthijs De Ligt – £67.5million, Ajax to Juventus (July 18, 2019)

The Dutchman joined the Ajax youth academy at the age of nine. He made his Ajax and Holland debut aged 17, quickly making the move from a deep-lying midfielder to a centre-back. De Ligt played over 100 games and captained a young Ajax side into the semi-finals of the Champions League before joining Juventus a month before his 20th birthday.

Aymeric Laporte – £57million, Athletic Bilbao to Manchester City (January 30, 2018)

Aymeric Laporte has piled up the medals during his time at Manchester City (Adam Davy/PA)

The French centre-half has Basque heritage and joined Athletic Bilbao at the age of 16. Also able to play left-back, Laporte made 220 appearances for Bilbao before Manchester City signed him for a then club-record fee in January 2018. He has since won two Premier League titles at City, as well as League Cup and FA Cup winner’s medals, but continues to be overlooked by France.

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Ollie McAninch

Ollie McAninch is a former public and private sector economist turned digital media pioneer. After working in the media for over a decade, he helped develop The London Economic to promote independent investigative journalism. When he isn't contributing articles, Ollie spends the bulk of his time looking after animals, pressing apples and planting trees.