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Football's most expensive defenders as Harry Maguire joins Manchester United

Football's most expensive defenders as Harry Maguire joins Man Utd
© Reuters
The England centre-half's transfer fee eclipses the previous record of £75million Liverpool paid for Virgil Van Dijk.

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

Here, PA looks 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)

Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool – UEFA Champions League – Final – Wanda Metropolitano
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 v Croatia – FIFA World Cup 2018 – Final – Luzhniki Stadium
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)

Chelsea v Manchester City – Community Shield – Wembley Stadium
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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A distraught Harry Maguire in action for England on June 6, 2019
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TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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