Leicester City may just listen to Liverpool over a move for Youri Tielemans. The Reds supposedly want the midfielder this summer.
Het Nieuwsblad claims Liverpool want to sign Youri Tielemans. The Belgian would be a replacement for Gini Wijnaldum, who’s set to leave at the end of his contract next month.
On the face of it, this is a difficult one to pursue. Leicester City would surely want a fortune for Tielemans, who blossomed this season into one of the Premier League’s best midfielders.
Convincing them to sell may not be quite as difficult as it seems, however.
Liverpool want Youri Tielemans
Leicester paid AS Monaco around £40m for Tielemans two years ago. He was coming off a very successful loan spell and they moved to make it permanent.
You can imagine the asking-price for Tielemans is quite high, then. Leicester would want a healthy profit on the player, especially as he’s still only 24. That price should only rise over the next few years.
But while we don’t know what Leicester’s asking-price would be, we do know there is one. This isn’t a situation where they’ll dismiss offers out of hand.
Tielemans joined on a four-year contract in 2019, meaning it’s up in 2023. This, then, is the final year when Leicester can expect a big fee for the player.
In a year’s time, there will only be one season on his contract. No one is paying an enormous price for Tielemans at that point, not when he’s free in a year.
So if Leicester want big money for their player and they don’t expect him to renew his deal, this is the year. You can guarantee they’ll at least listen to an approach, even if their asking-price will be huge.
Is he worth it?
We’d say so, yes. Leicester may want double what they paid for in order to sell Tielemans but that wouldn’t be crazy. He’s an exceptional player and one who should explode into a world-class one over the next year or two.
But is he worth it to Liverpool? That depends. Firstly, we doubt they actually have that kind of money to spend, making this all a bit fanciful.
If they do have the cash, though, Tielemans could be a perfect signing. He’d plug the hole left by Wijnaldum while adding some youth into midfield.
We’re a little concerned by Thiago and Jordan Henderson both moving into their 30s. Tielemans, though, would help continue Liverpool’s midfield supremacy beyond those two.
Again, we doubt Liverpool have the money to pull this off. If they do, however, they can almost certainly get Leicester to listen.