Italy great Fabio Cannavaro admits he's a fan of Manchester United captain Harry Maguire.

Cannavaro says he regards the England defender highly.

He told The Sun: “Good players like Maguire will always be worth a lot and we should not be astonished when top clubs invest that amount on talented players.

“In Italy, we say that great strikers sell tickets but great defenders win matches.

“Players nowadays rightly cost and earn more money than before because of the finances around the game — and players are the main actors."

He rates Maguire and Manchester City's £47.5m buy John Stones highly, but thinks they lack the edge that Italy's European champion Giorgio Chiellini possesses.

Cannavaro said: “Stones and Maguire have shown interesting things in recent years. They can both play football, defend and fear no one.

“They are good individually and with the rest of the backline. They are points of reference for Manchester City and Man United — and undoubtedly the two best English defenders.

“When the going gets tough, they take responsibility and are not afraid of trying new things.

"But Chiellini still embodies the spirit of the Italian defender and that level of concentration needed to stop a striker in a difficult moment.

“Maguire and Stones play a totally different type of football and may lack a nasty streak at times. Which Giorgio has."