Should Leicester City rival Everton for this intense forward?

Former West Ham United star Marko Arnautovic will be available on a free transfer this summer. With Everton interested, should Leicester City make a bid?

Free transfers can either be massive bargains or complete flops. There is no middle ground with free transfers, with players often joining senior first teams and being very experienced, or being placed in the reserves.

As reported by the Daily Mail, West Ham United, Everton, and Crystal Palace are monitoring the former ‘Hammers’ star, and may look to bring the strong Marko Arnautovic back to England.

So, here is how he stacks up against other Foxes’ targets.

Leicester City’s striker targets compared

On top of midfielders and youth talent, Leicester City have been linked with several strikers to provide competition to a resurgent Kelechi Iheanacho.

This list includes former Brendan Rodgers squaddie Odsonne Edouard, Tammy Abraham, and Gerard Moreno.

In terms of experience, Edouard has been a senior first team striker for one of the best teams in the Scottish Premiership (Celtic), Iheanacho has played for Manchester City, and Abraham has been and England international.

Moreno is 29 years old and Arnautovic is 32 years old. These are the experienced options that Leicester have when the transfer window opens. They can go for younger projects or one of these ready meals. Pop them in the team and they are ready to cook!

I will use the Squawka comparison matrix for statistics. Arnautovic has been playing in the Chinese Super League.

This season, he has only played 301 minutes of football, getting three goals from six shots on target, a 50% conversion rate. All of his goals came from within the penalty box, one with his head, and one with either foot.

By comparison, fan-favourite Edouard has played 2340 minutes of football, scoring 18 goals from 53 shots on target… Wait, 53 shots on target and only 18 goals? That is not a very good conversion rate. Nevertheless, he is a fast paced positional forward with plenty of development to go.

Abraham has been limited with his game time at Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel came in. With only 1034 minutes played. He has six goals from 13 on-target attempts. An interesting point to note is the right footedness of Abraham and Edouard.

Moreno has been the most prolific of the options here. Over 2601 minutes, he has 23 goals, 21 of those from inside the box, 19 of those from his left foot, and has 47 shots on target. On top of this, he has made 90 ball recoveries for Villarreal CF. Meaning he has been great defensively.

I cannot recommend Arnautovic for Leicester City. Brendan Rodgers should look to bring in either Edouard to develop into a Jamie Vardy replacement, or Moreno to compete with Iheanacho.

Arnautovic is not prolific enough, fit enough, or defensively astute enough for the King Power outfit. His wages would also be ridiculous. Let Everton or West Ham splurge their cash on him. We need class.