Leicester City are insistent that they will not sell Harry Maguire on transfer deadline day, despite sealing a deal for Freiburg defender Caglar Soyuncu.
The Foxes signed Maguire from relegated Hull City a year ago for £17m but a strong season domestically and then an impressive World Cup campaign helped him catch the attention of Manchester United.
United boss Jose Mourinho gave executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward a list of central defenders that he wanted this summer but none have arrived, with the Old Trafford club struggling to offload excess players from their squad.
A deal for Toby Alderweireld has failed to materialise with Tottenham not playing ball over the Belgian's fee. Then Jerome Boateng turned down the club, with reports in German newspaper Bild claiming he rang Mourinho personally to thank him for the interest and let him down gently. Boateng is now scheduled for talks with Paris Saint-Germain.
It leaves Man United still in the market for a centre-back and Maguire's name has been thrown into the mix, with the player understood to be keen on the possibility of playing in the Champions League for the first time in his career.
Yerry Mina has been linked to the club but that was always a move pushed by Barcelona, who have been desperate to sell the Colombian all summer and appear to have successfully convinced Everton to pay their astounding asking price of £35m.
Maguire's openness to a move puts the onus on United - and Woodward in particular - to blow Leicester away and offer them a sum that they simply can't turn down.
But Mourinho is not confident of a deal coming off, telling a press conference on Thursday morning that he didn't expect any incomings on deadline day.
