As they look to gain a crucial advantage in the battle to avoid the drop in the Premier League, Leicester City have now reportedly set their sights on signing a relegation rival for Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Leicester transfer news
Whilst the Foxes have shown signs of improvement under Van Nistelrooy, they remain inside the bottom three and two points adrift of safety in the Premier League. Their issues were exposed once again against Manchester City, as the out-of-form champions ended a run of one win in 13 games to defeat a Leicester side who simply could not convert their chances on the day.
The performance, as Van Nistelrooy claimed, was impressive at times but Leicester’s lack of ruthlessness in front of goal combined with just how open they often find themselves going the other way should spark them into life during the January transfer window.
Already, names such as Chancel Mbemba have threatened to steal the headlines ahead of a potential return to English football, but he’s not the only one to have reportedly entered the Foxes’ radar.
According to Sky Sports, Leicester City are now eyeing a bargain deal to sign Kyle Walker-Peters from relegation rivals Southampton with the right-back’s current deal set to expire at the end of the season.
Opening the door for a cut-price deal, Leicester could commence work behind the scenes on a deal for Walker-Peters which could see him arrive in the summer for free.
Alternatively, if the Saints want to cash in rather than lose their defender for free, then it will be interesting to see if those at The King Power Stadium make an early move for a cut-price in the coming weeks.
“Great” Walker-Peters would be intelligent signing
Whether it’s for free in the summer or for a cut-price near the end of his contract this month, Leicester wouldn’t be breaking the bank by signing Walker-Peters – an experienced, reliable defender still at the peak of his career. Given Van Nistelrooy’s open, attacking approach too, a player of the 27-year-old’s calibre would go a long way towards success under the Dutchman if he is to compete for a place with James Justin.
Former Southampton boss Russell Martin was certainly a fan of the defender too, telling the club’s official website in pre-season: “He’s still here. So, I hope he’ll still be here in a few weeks’ time. But whilst he is here, we had the chat and we need him to help us because he’s a really top player. He was great and he’s a fit, fit boy. He’s trained so well.
“He’s willing to put all the noise around him to the side at the minute to help us out. And it’s really easy to say that’s his job and all that stuff, but when you’re in that situation and there is a lot of noise and speculation it can be sometimes difficult, but yeah, he was great, really good in that 60 minutes and that will be really important for him.”
Leave a Reply