Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur in talks with Youri Tielemans

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have had talks with Leicester City target Youri Tielemans, according to Belgian football journalist Kristof Terreur.

Much of the transfer speculation concerning Leicester has been about Tielemans and whether or not will the club be able to permanently sign him.

The Foxes signed the 21-year old on loan from AS Monaco in January and the move turned out to be every bit as successful as anyone would have wanted.

Now Tielemans is a hot property and Leicester – if they do want him – will find it difficult to make him their own. To the disappointment of the Leicester faithful, his agent has also held talks with United and Tottenham, as Terrur revealed in Sky Sports’ Transfer Talk podcast.

"“There have been talks, the agent’s had talks with Spurs and Manchester United about him.“Not sure he’s the first choice at both clubs either. Monaco, they want to sell him and get rid of him.“He’s not in the plans of the manager. His good performances have done what they wanted, he’s now worth more than he was worth in January when they rated him already at £40m.“He’s happy at Leicester City, he enjoyed his time but it’s now the question if Leicester are going to spend most of their transfer budget on one player.“Maybe if they sell Maguire to Manchester City or something they will have more money but it’s that question because Monaco will want a lot of money.“It won’t be one that will be done in the early days of the transfer window, that one will be one for the last few weeks when clubs want the best price for him.“If I was a Premier League club I would sign him, he’s special.”"

It really doesn’t seem like Leicester want to sign the Belgian international. The Telegraph recently reported that they are backing out of the pursuit because of the £40 million fee.

The report claims that such a hefty fee could mean that Leicester “may prefer to commit their funds elsewhere”.

If that is going to be the case, then the fans would be fuming, as they should be. Having seen Tielemans’ stunning displays, if this is the decision that Brendan Rodgers has taken, then you will have to ask exactly what is the factor behind it.

Money can’t be the problem. Funds have always been available at the club, especially for players like Tielemans, who are worth every penny. Quality can’t be the problem either. We know that by now.

Does Rodgers have someone even better in mind? Or is he simply looking for two players for the price of one? Either way, he better be wise with his judgments.