Foxes offer Maguire new deal to fend off United interest

HARRY MAGUIRE will be offered a new contract worth about £80,000 a week by Leicester City on his return from the World Cup, in an attempt to kill off interest from Manchester United.

United are understood to have made inquiries over the availability of the 25-year-old, who joined the Foxes from Hull for £17m last summer, but Leicester are optimistic that he can be persuaded to stay at the King Power Stadium.

Leicester, who are also planning to offer Jamie Vardy an extension to his £100,000 a week deal, held initial talks with Maguire over improved terms before the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Gareth Southgate will not name his team for today’s third-place play-off against Belgium until an hour before kick-off as he waits to see who has recovered from the physical and mental exertions of Wednesday’s demanding semi-final defeat. Southgate has several injury concerns, while Ashley Young and Jesse Lingard are suffering from illness.

The delay in selecting the side suggests Southgate does not want to make wholesale changes as England bid to secure their highest finish at a tournament since 1966.

Southgate revealed that he had watched the Croatia match again at 4am on Thursday. He admitted the loss had been “testing for me individually” but added that coming so close “drives” him to go one step further at Euro 2020.

The England manager claimed that the next Euros would feel “like a home tournament”, with several games, including the semi-finals and final, at Wembley, and likened its potential impact to the London Olympics in 2012.

“It’s going to be brilliant,” Southgate said. “We’re going to have a tournament where the players are going to experience as close to what we experienced in 1996 and 1966.

The manager is planning to write a letter to each of his players thanking them for their efforts.

“I have already done that with the staff and I will do it with the players, at the end,” Southgate said. “It’s quite nice to receive a letter in this day and age. There’s something special about that. There are lessons to be learnt and, also, a great deal of disappointment to overcome. We were 20 minutes from a World Cup final... that is going to live with me forever – there is no doubt about that.”

Elsewhere, Switzerland international Xherdan Shaqiri has completed his £13m move from Stoke to Liverpool. (© Daily Telegraph, London)