Leicester City to make another attempt to sign Sporting Lisbon midfielder
Leicester City are interested in the signature of Sporting Lisbon’s Adrien Silva, according to Jornal de Notícias.
The Foxes have been long-term admirers of the Portuguese midfielder and are all set to make an offer worth €22 million.
City’s latest attempt will be their second in as many transfer windows, having already tried and failed to sign Silva back in the January transfer window, with the offer reported to be in the region of €30 million back then.
However, Sporting Lisbon’s demand was that the release clause be paid, which stood at €40 million – a substantial amount for a central midfielder.
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Leicester City’s interest in the 28-year old seems somewhat strange for a few reasons. To begin with, West Bromwich Albion have already had a €26 million bid rejected earlier this summer, so there’s no way that Sporting would be willing to listen to anything even marginally lower.
Also, Leicester City do have a number of central midfielders, including the new man Vicente Iborra, who is expected to play the role that Silva would if he does arrive.
If City indeed go ahead and pursue him, it’d take a lot of money – with Sporting Lisbon’s current asking price reported to be anything over €30 million – and a bit more of effort, as both Inter Milan and West Bromwich Albion are after Adrien Silva.
As far as sensibility goes, it’s a move that mustn’t be gone ahead with. Craig Shakespeare is badly in need of reinforcements elsewhere – chiefly a playmaker and a centre-back – and that’s what he should be looking at.