Leicester City know the future of Youri Tielemans is almost certainly elsewhere. With that in mind, here is our list of potential signings for his role.
We are going to suggest three potential replacements for the outgoing ‘Starman’. There have been plenty of transfer rumours for midfielders, but all of them have one thing in common. They are more attack minded than defensive.
Brendan Rodgers already has the best ‘DM’ in the league, what he now needs is a progressive midfielder to link the backline with the creative midfielder and forward line. A player similar in profile to the Belgian.
From the ‘Prem’
The Premier League is of course the best league in the world. Unfortunately, it is not a place to do fair value deals. That will not stop us from dreaming of a player from one of these clubs. Namely, Crystal Palace.
The London-based club have done some exceptionally good business recently and brought in two great midfielders in Eberechi Eze and Michael Olise. Both are attack-minded, progressive, and devastating on the counter. They are perfect.
The French midfielder has a startlingly similar skill set to our Belgian Starman, though arguably provides a couple benefits as well as drawbacks when compared. In terms of the drawbacks, Olise is not as good possessively or defensively, which has been an important part of the ‘Youri role’ in recent months.
Nevertheless, across 26 league appearances, the Palace player has notched up two goals and five assists. These may not be Earth-shattering numbers, but the Eagle has truly been sensational in Palace’s revival. One for the future and the present.
An existing Leicester City link
The King Power club have two existing links which could fill the void. One more interesting to myself than the other. Those are to Charles de Ketelaere and Ibrahim Sangare. The Belgian attacking midfielder is an extremely hot link, but I do not think he is a Tielemans replacement.
The Ivorian national would be a dream for King Power supporters. A possessive and defensive monster, on top of a decent array of passing. Sangare is a box-to-box ball winner and provides a critical link for PSV Eindhoven between their defence and attack.
He already plays the Tielemans role of this season. The Foxes in prior seasons used Tielemans further up, but the Belgian international has stayed deeper to help progress the ball and retain possession. This is something the Ivorian excels at.
According to SmarterScout style rankings – as judged against Premier League players – Sangare scores 99/100 on recovery, 98/100 on defensive quantity, 90/100 on disruption, 88/100 on aerial challenges, and 86/100 on dribbling. He wins the ball and takes it forward.
A simple, straight forward player who would work well as rotation with Wilfred Ndidi or Boubakary Soumare. Both of those players perform similar functions, though Soumare is better forward rather than starting from deep.
A dream worth having
I firmly believe in a balanced midfield. This means having at least a ball winner, a progressor/possessor, and a creator. Leicester City have a playmaker and they have the Nigerian international midfielder. Were they to get Ketelaere regardless of replacing the Belgian, then there remains a spot.
That position should go to none other than Olympique Lyonnais’ Maxence Caqueret. The central midfielder is a young progressor at heart, starting from deep and getting much further forward than Sangare, almost identical to Tielemans.
The French midfielder is a dream option. Young, energetic, and with plenty of development to go – after all, he does not score many goals or get assists – this player offers oodles of potential and plenty of promise. Though he would not come cheap.
Once again, SmarterScout helps to clear up his stylistic suiting to the East Midlands outfit. Rodgers would love a player like him: 96/100 on defensive quantity, 94 on recovery, 92 on disruption, and 66/100 on link up play. He wins the ball and passes it quickly forward, working with other players to progress the ball.
The player has featured times in the French Ligue 1 and has been integral to ‘OL’. If Leicester could get this signing over the line, it would be a near like for like replacement, then Rodgers just needs to develop the player’s goalscoring acumen.