The long-running Harry Maguire transfer saga finally came to an end on Friday morning when Leicester City accepted an £85 million offer from Manchester United that makes the England international the most expensive defender in history.

The King Power club had refused to budge on their valuation of the player and the deal was only signed off by chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, known as "Top", when Leicester director of football Jon Rudkin was told by United that they would be meet the original valuation which could reach £90 million with add-ons.

At that point it became simply too good a price for Leicester to turn down and the club felt that it was right that Maguire, who has handled an awkward situation well, should be allowed to leave. There was no question of Leicester accepting any less than their original figure and they were confident that the player would have stayed and played his part this season had United walked away from the deal.

It seals a remarkable transformation in the career of the 26-year-old Maguire, who joined Hull City from Sheffield United for £2.5 million almost five years ago to the day. Then, struggling to make the Hull team, he was sent on loan at Wigan Athletic in February 2015. He only became a first team regular at Hull under Mike Phelan at the start of the club’s 2016-2017 season that ended with relegation from the Premier League – and he will work with Phelan again at Old Trafford.