After incredible season in which they became Premier League champions, Leicester City now has the burden of many transfer rumors surrounding their top players. England’s Player of the Year Jamie Vardy has a mere £20 million buy-out clause in his contract and is on West Ham’s and Chelsea’s radar while midfielder N’Golo Kante who has the same buy-out clause is wanted by Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain and is more likely of entire group to leave the club. Vardy on the other hand promised to stay put and focus on title defense and Champions League debut with the Foxes after he gets married and goes to EURO 2016 with England this summer.
Riyad Mahrez, fantastic winger who, along Vardy, was the most important player in title winning season for Leicester City, has been linked with a dream move to the Real Madrid or Barcelona, will probably leave if offer of that sort comes in. In addition, Liverpool started showing interest in midfielder Danny Drinkwater, who is also with England’s on their preparation for European championship.
While Leicester’s manager Claudio Ranieri expressed his wishes for his special group of players to stay together through title defense and Champions League debut next season, the club has started to plan for reinforcements. First up is to find the competition at goalkeeper position for Kasper Schmeichel, with veteran Mark Schwarzer set to leave the club. The target is rumored to be 25-year-old Mika from Boavista who has impressed in Portugal this season. His contract expires in 2017, as he is unwilling to extend it, Boavista are ready to let him go. Leicester’s scouting genius Steve Walsh who found many of the players from title wining side has recommend Mika and the clubs are set to open negotiations.
Possible replacement at winger in case that Mahrez leaves the club is thought to be his Algerian compatriot Rachid Ghezzal from Lyon. Ghezzal had a great season in French Ligue 1, scoring eight goals and adding the same number of assists in 29 league matches. 24-year-old Algerian notched this many matches mainly to the absence of Nabil Fekir with injury and now that he is back, Ghezzal is weighing his options as his contract expires next year and Lyon could be tempted to sell him. Beside Leicester City, interested sides are also Southampton and Sunderland.
Biggest name among possible reinforcements is surely Arsenal winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Ranieri is thought to be an admirer of the 22-year-old midfielder who will miss EURO 2016 due to a knee injury. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is reportedly thinking about replacing Oxlade-Chamberlain with Southampton’s Sadio Mane and could be tempted by Leicester’s offer.
As for the attack with Vardy probably staying among Foxes, the club is keen to bolster competition and numbers up front due to their increased obligations in Champions League and domestic competitions. Two targets are mentioned so far, one domestic and one international. Leicester City is rumored to be, along Liverpool, interested in Southampton striker Shane Long. Long has scored 13 goals in 32 matches this past season for the Saints and has attracted other teams with his physical game, which could complement Vardy’s technical skillset. It is believed that bid of at least £25 million will be needed to persuade Southampton to open the talks. Other name is CSKA Moscow striker Ahmed Musa – Leicester already had their offer worth around £25 million for the Nigeria international rejected in the January transfer window. However, after 23-year-old Musa himself admitted he wanted to finish the season in Russia where he scored 18 goals in all competitions and won the Russian Premier League with CSKA he now has expressed his wishes to hold talks with Ranieri and urged his club to except the offer from the Foxes.