Harry Maguire is the most expensive defender in the history of world football. That’s a label that says more about the transfer market and about Manchester United than it does about him, but still.

The former Leicester City defender must have had his bags packed since May, such is the sense of inevitability around his switch to Old Trafford, yet there have been rumours all summer about his preferred destination.

Any overtures to Manchester City aside, Maguire’s transfer came down to three parties and their representatives just like any other.

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United’s decision was that they wanted Maguire. Leicester’s, eventually, was that their valuation had been met and they were willing to sell.

And Maguire’s decision was simply whether or not to agree terms and take the deal. Yes please, he said, and swapped blue for red.

For as long as I can remember United have been just about the pinnacle for an English footballer’s career. A dream move. A culmination of his talent and performance. Signing and playing for the Red Devils meant he’d made it.

That’s the world Maguire grew up in and it’s still a mighty attractive proposition. Being a United player brings with it prestige, money, fame and a chance to make history on the very biggest stages football has to offer.

Moving from Leicester City to Manchester United is a step up in every regard. Except, perhaps, the one that really matters. It’s not 1999 anymore. The aura has dissipated. United’s trajectory is far from certain.

And maybe, just maybe, Leicester will finish above Maguire in the Premier League this season.

Yet it is a career-defining switch for a player like Maguire and there’s a lot to like about it. The price tag and its implications could be treated as an honour as easily as a millstone and Maguire is a talented footballer who’s found his way to a club that is still built upon greatness.

The question marks hover not over their status but their immediate prospects. At 26 Maguire is approaching his peak years as a central defender and his ambitions - the very reason he signed for United, presumably - won’t be fulfilled unless his new club’s shortcomings are quickly resolved.

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United’s world of chaos after Alex Ferguson’s retirement just keeps on spinning, the club lurching from David Moyes to Ryan Giggs to Louis van Gaal to Jose Mourinho, the most recent of whom even somehow managed to snag a UEFA Europa League win without ever looking as if he’d set the club right.

Criticism of chief suit Ed Woodward remains as vituperative as ever and if Maguire is going to be part of anything like a ‘real’ United it’s Ole Gunnar Solskjær who needs to take them there.

His ability to do so is questionable; being fond of Ferguson ain’t gon’ cut it.

The Norwegian may eventually prove wrong his skeptics but one has to think his opportunity to do so this season is wafer thin.

United’s transfer activity has left them short and Woodward will take the brunt of the response. Solskjær has a challenge on his hands.

Romelu Lukaku has gone but Paul Pogba remains. In fact, in terms of raw quality Solskjær has much to work with, and yet he will rely upon misfiring forwards to rack up the goals.

He has improved at the back, however. Maguire followed £45m signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka into the club and that outlay undeniably improves the Red Devils defensively.

Aston Villa supporters will count Axel Tuanzebe as another worthy addition after he returned to Old Trafford from a successful loan.

In most similar cases the selling club would be significantly weakened but Leicester are different. Selling Maguire for big bucks before securing a replacement left them on the wrong side of a sudden price increase or two but the direction of travel, it appears, is upward.

Brendan Rodgers and Leicester are in good nick even without Maguire. Their ninth-placed finish last season bodes well after a difficult post-title period and, if United are indeed vulnerable, Leicester have as good a chance as anyone of picking their pocket.

The additions of Ayoze Perez and Dennis Praet have pulses racing, while offering a permanent home to Youri Tielemans keeps things settled in the middle of the park, where there’s developing talent aplenty.

Arguably Leicester’s under-staffed department is the opposite of United’s. Where Solskjær is weakest, Rodgers has Jamie Vardy being supplied by James Maddison. Where Solskjær has Maguire, Rodgers has a Maguire-shaped hole and not a Lewis Dunk in sight.

It is, then, a big season for veteran skipper Wes Morgan and Jonny Evans, not to mention Çağlar Söyüncü and Filip Benković, now a Croatian international. If they can stay fit and in form, they’ll give United a run for their money.

For all that, United still represent a step up to the next level for one of England’s key players.

Solskjær values his leadership, his presence and his quality on the ball. Every one of those attributes will be amplified at Old Trafford if Maguire can grow into his fee.

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There’s still something about Manchester United players, after all, even if the collective isn’t what it used to be. Gareth Southgate shares Solskjær’s admiration of Maguire and understands the importance of the very same skills.

There’s still something about Manchester United players, after all, even if the collective isn’t what it used to be. Gareth Southgate shares Solskjær’s admiration of Maguire and understands the importance of the very same skills.

Maguire doesn’t have to finish above Leicester this season for his transfer to make him a better player but there’s still a risk involved in this supposed no-brainer of a move.

United swallow players as readily as they are the making of them these days. If they end up moving further and further from a UEFA Champions League return, their new superstar defender might one day ask himself whether it was worth it.