Yes so his value to Leicester is high because their value of money is not as important as having the player right now. 4 year contract increases his value to them, being English adds to his value.
So to them hes worth quite a bit more than normal, that's why they ask so much.
His value to us though, is debatable. Hes not amazing, and has clear weakness' as well as strengths. You can argue hes an upgrade on our current CB's but not by a massive margin. Also you got to not compare him to VVD, because thats not how it works, you compare it to what you could spend that money on. 80 million could get us a better player in another role (not many good CB's around at the moment).
Also if he doesn't do well, we cannot resell and gain back all that money, we will lose quite a bit.
Agreed, his value to us might be £40-60m. However, it looks like lack of planning has got us to a position where it seems to be Maguire or nothing. If that is the case, we need to pay the money because:-
1. Going into another season with Smalling, Jones Lindelof does not fill any fan with confidence. Jones cannot stay fit. We have not had a settled back 4 in a while
2. He could form a partnership with lindelof.
3. He plays LCB, currently only Rojo can play there and I defo do not want to see him start.
4. We have a lack of players who can head a ball from corners into our box, Maguire will attack the ball.
5. He knows the PL.
Although he may have glaring weaknesses which have been covered up, the media has hyped him up so much that some people don't realise that he isn't a world beater.
Could he be the difference with us conceding 10 or so goals less?