West Ham United will demand a fee of £75million for defender Issa Diop to deter bidders.

The club is aware of potential interest in the 22-year-old from Manchester United and insist he is not for sale.

A fee of £45million has been mooted, with reports in France claiming an offer had already been rejected, but West Ham insist they have not received a bid and certainly would not consider a sale at that price. They want Diop to stay and want to set what would regarded as a prohibitive price to see off interest.

Diop arrived at West Ham last summer for £22million on a five-year contract from French club Toulouse and enjoyed an impressive debut season in the Premier League. It is understood the under-21 international has been close to a call-up to the France squad.

United are clearly in the market for a central defender and have been considering making an offer for Leicester City’s Harry Maguire who is also of interest to Manchester City.

United expressed interest in Maguire last year but did not submit a formal bid with the England international then signing a new five-year deal with Leicester. It is understood that Leicester will demand more than £75million – the price Liverpool paid to sign Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton in January 2018, the world record fee for a defender – for Maguire.