‘No plans to lose anyone in January’: Brendan Rodgers
Leicester City have absolutely zero plans to sell any of their key players in January, says Brendan Rodgers.
We are around a month or so away from the transfer window but the “ABC Leicester star to ABC club” rumours have already started doing the rounds.
James Maddison, Ben Chilwell, Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans have all been linked with one big club or the other, sparking fears that one of them could leave midway to possibly derail what could be another historic campaign.
Rodgers, however, is certain that there are going to be no departures – except those of the fringe players – anytime soon. Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph’s John Percy, he said:
"“We want to grow, and there’s a lot of development left in this squad. We’ve absolutely no plans to lose anyone in January.”Our job is to keep what we have and if there’s an opportunity to improve the squad we will look to do that. If not, we will carry on with the squad we have, which is very strong.”"
Leicester have also opened preliminary talks with Maddison over a new contract.
The 22-year old has been the subject of interest from Manchester United and Liverpool, with the former increasingly likely to come for him next summer.
An improved contract could go a long way in deciding whether “big-game player” Maddison stays here or not.
"“If you look at his numbers this season, in terms of the goals he has scored and created, he has shown he is a big-game player,” Rodgers said.“He has scored goals against Liverpool, against Tottenham, against Arsenal. James is among a lot of very good players with England and it’s just about preference, whether Gareth [Southgate] and his staff want to pick him.“You can see he is at the level. If not, he will continue to work. He doesn’t expect to play, he’s not entitled, but he loves playing and will hopefully get many more caps for his country.”"
You look at the way Leicester have progressed under Rodgers and you will have wonder just why would even the thought of leaving cross a first-team player’s mind – especially someone as important as Maddison.
He is a hero at the King Power Stadium and therefore the beneficiary of the fans’ special treatment. Besides, he is part of a revolution at Leicester.
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Somewhere else, he might just happen to be a part of a capitulation. For someone of his calibre, it would be a tremendous shame.