Midfield they say is the heart and soul of any team and Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is ready to reinforce his midfield options by offering Jesse Lingard plus £45 million to Leicester City for James Maddison.
Maddison joined the Foxes for around £20m from Norwich in 2018 and still has three-and-a-half years remaining on his current £50,000-a-week contract. But he could be offered more if he joins Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side next summer. The 23-year-old has also been in good form this season and has been at the heart of Brendan Rodgers’ side as they occupy the second spot on the league table and win a Champions League qualification.
The Leicester midfielder has bagged six goals and three assists in 20 Premier League appearances and his fine performances have unsurprisingly seen him linked with a move away from the King Power Stadium and United are hopeful that the midfielder can be lured to Old Trafford in the summer.
The midfielder is not close to signing a new long-term deal at the King Power Stadium with the Red Devils ready to raid the club again after paying a similar £80m deal for Harry Maguire. Also, Man United chiefs are hoping that the defender can help persuade his former teammate to make the switch to Old Trafford.
According to the Sunday Mirror, Solskjaer ‘desperate’ to sign Maddison and is willing to include Lingard as part of United’s deal with Leicester City. The report claims that Solskjaer is convinced that Maddison has the character to be a success at Old Trafford, while United are willing to offer the midfielder a contract worth £150,000 a week.
Leicester boss Rodgers, who will still be hopeful of convincing Maddison to stay, has already ruled out selling any of his stars in the January window.
Speaking earlier in the season, he 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.”
The former Celtic boss 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.”
