West Ham United have allegedly reopened talks to sign Manchester United centre-back Harry Maguire.
The Hammers had succeeded with a £30m offer for the former Red Devils captain, who remains on the fringes of the Man United team under Erik ten Hag.
However, a deal ultimately fell through as Maguire failed to agree terms with Man United over his departure, and the Europa Conference League winners abandoned their pursuit as a result.
Instead, David Moyes's side have brought ex-Arsenal defender Dinos Mavropanos back to the Premier League from Stuttgart, and Maguire was seemingly set to remain at Old Trafford for the 2023-24 season, in spite of his struggles for minutes.
A proposed switch to the London Stadium is not completely dead in the water, though, as The Sun claims that West Ham have now reignited talks with Man United over the out-of-favour centre-back.
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As Maguire is still under contract at the Theatre of Dreams until the summer of 2025, he is allegedly looking for a substantial payoff to leave Man United, who made him the world's most expensive defender in an £80m deal in 2019.
Instead of sticking with their original £30m sum, West Ham are supposedly happy to offer a little more to Man United in order to increase the Red Devils' chances of negotiating a payoff with Maguire.
Man United are thought to have offered the former Leicester City man £6m to leave the club, but given that he is accepting a £70,000-a-week pay cut to join West Ham, he is holding out for a higher fee.
Should Maguire see out his contract and depart Man United for nothing in 2025, he could negotiate a higher wage with potential suitors as a free agent given the absence of a multi-million pound transfer fee.
The 30-year-old fell behind Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane in the defensive pecking order last season, while Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw were also preferred at the heart of Ten Hag's backline.
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After being stripped of the armband earlier this summer, Maguire has been an unused substitute in each of Man United's opening three Premier League games this season, although Shaw's injury could potentially see the England international earn more minutes in the near future.
Since touching down at Old Trafford in 2019, Maguire has scored seven goals and set up five more in 175 matches for the Red Devils across all competitions, winning his first piece of silverware in the 2022-23 EFL Cup.
Maguire's error-prone performances have not impacted his standing in the England setup, but he has been warned by Gareth Southgate that his spot in any Euro 2024 could come under threat unless he starts to play regularly again.
Man United have already offloaded Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe following the expiration of their contracts, but Ten Hag is now after a new left-back in the wake of Shaw's diagnosis.
Chelsea's Marc Cucurella - who has also been deployed as a central defender during his short time at Stamford Bridge - is allegedly under consideration for a loan move to Old Trafford.
Ben Knapton
