Foxes of Leicester
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Where three ideal Leicester signings fit into the XI: Part two, Maxime Lopez

By Dominic Wells

Maxime Lopez of US Sassuolo (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Maxime Lopez of US Sassuolo (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images) /
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MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 20: Maxime Lopez of US Sassuolo during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and US Sassuolo at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 20, 2022 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)
MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 20: Maxime Lopez of US Sassuolo during the Serie A match between FC Internazionale and US Sassuolo at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza on February 20, 2022 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images) /

My attention has turned to Maxime López. Here’s a short biography of his career thus far (he’s only aged 24). After graduating through the Olympique Marseille academy, he spent a total of seven years in the south of France, with a single loan spell to the Italian side, Sassuolo. An impressive one-year stay under Roberto De Zerbi’s management and the central-midfielder became a mainstay with the mid-table Italian outfit in 2021 for as little as £1.8million.

An impressive year later, and he’s now got a market value of £12.6million—but, why should Brendan Rodgers’s recruitment staff be targeting a midfielder that hasn’t got the European recognition like some of the other linked players? Let me explain below.

As I’ve mentioned frequently throughout this article, having a player who engages with the CBs to take possession, and has a lot of responsibility within his ball actions is a good place to start. There isn’t a central-midfielder in Europe’s top five leagues that has made more touches in the defensive third of the pitch p/90 (25.82), but he also combines this with being in the 98th percentile for touches in the middle third—highlighting that he’s more than just a deep receiver.