Leicester linked with signing up-and-coming PL centre-back

Leicester City have once again been linked with the loan signing of a Premier League centre-back. Though the timing is dire, here is what you must know.

The King Power side let Filip Benkovic go for free while turning players from Wilfred Ndidi to Hamza Choudhury into makeshift centre-backs. Brendan Rodgers continues to be forced into a negative defensive situation.

The only real answer to both the injury crisis and improving upon our current line-up in January is to bring someone in on loan. Even then, this looks to be a distant dream for supporters and for the Northern Irish gaffer.

Well, with all the links, here is another for the fire. The Foxes are linked with the loan signing of Malang Sarr from Chelsea. One of the London Blues crop of young stars usually on loan and only recently given a chance at the Bridge; he now has a 7.52 rating on WhoScored for two division appearances this term.

What Leicester City should know

Sarr is an interesting player. Due to his lack of game time with Chelsea, his stylistic suiting can only really be seen as somewhere in-between his time with Nice in France and the small amount of playtime achieved in England.

According to SmarterScout, at the time of playing for Nice, the defenders best three attributes were his dribbling (similar to Wesley Fofana), his link-up play with other players, and his ball recovery. This made the player a decent defender who could get involved in progressive play.

At Chelsea however, Leicester City would see a different set of attributes in the foreground. Disruption becomes the centre-back’s primary attribute, closely followed once again by recovery and link-up play. In essence, at the Bridge the player has become a more proactive and dangerous defender than at Nice.

For ‘Rodgersball’ the Foxes would find the 23-year-old a fantastic fit. Certainly a much more directly suitable than Jannik Vestergaard, who should have performed well in the gaffer’s system and yet his lack of pace and composure has cost the side greatly in recent times.

Should the Foxes make a move?

The short answer is yes. In the market, there are few players of better value than Malang Sarr. The young Frenchman continues to impress whenever given a chance, and might certainly be the partner we temporarily need for the eventual return of ‘wonderkid’ Fofana.

There is no reason not to go in for a loan. Though ‘finances’ has been thrown around as the reason for no move yet, that feels a little rich considering the position of the club and the ability to make several signings for the senior side in the summer.

They might be saving for another big spend in the summer, but Rodgers needs reinforcements now, because just relying on the individual quality of players until we get our preferred players back is not a viable and long term option.