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United in 'advanced talks' over Shaw deal

Shaw is currently on World Cup duty with England in Brazil © PA Photos

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Manchester United are in "advanced talks" to sign Luke Shaw from Southampton but may have to break their transfer record in a £40 million deal.

United are said to have already offered £34m for Shaw, 18, and although sources at Southampton have cast doubt that the figure is that high yet, ESPN understands that negotiations are reaching final stages.

If United have to pay more than £30m - the fee they paid for an 17-year-old Wayne Rooney in 2004 - left-back Shaw would become the most expensive teenager in world football.

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New Southampton manager Ronald Koeman is insisting he wants to do everything he can to keep Shaw at St Mary's, according to the Daily Mail, and this could have a significant bearing on the final fee.

Koeman will, at the very least, start the season without striker Rickie Lambert, who has joined Liverpool, while the Anfield club are also keen on Southampton captain Adam Lallana. Centre-half Dejan Lovren is also understood to have handed in a transfer request.

Southampton are under no pressure to sell Shaw - a product of their academy - and last month rejected a £27m bid from United. They have already shown they can drive a hard bargain in the transfer market, forcing Arsenal to part with £15m for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2011, while Liverpool have been told Lallana will cost £30m.

Shaw, who has made just 60 senior appearances at Southampton, will make his first World Cup start for England against Costa Rica in their Group D dead rubber later today. He has insisted he is not interested in transfer talk at the moment, instead focusing on his England duties, but the reported salary offer of £100,000 a week may have turned his head.

Although United have retained left-back Patrice Evra on a one-year contract, Alexander Buttner likely to move to Dinamo Moscow this summer and new manager Louis van Gaal is determined to lure Shaw to Old Trafford.

United paid Chelsea a club-record £37.1m for Juan Mata in January this year, but any deal for Shaw would likely see him leapfrog Rio Ferdinand as the Premier League's most expensive defender.

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