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

With Tielemans, it’s exclusively passing, as his lack of acceleration makes bypassing opponents in one-on-one situations difficult (especially in transitions where the large spaces are the areas to penetrate, he’s good at beating opponents in tight areas due to his ball control & manipulation). Acquiring the Sassuolo midfielder would provide the Foxes with a good replica of the Belgian, albeit lacking in a couple of distinct areas, the last of these being his roaming into wide areas. This was fundamentally a tactical implementation—rather than a part of Youri’s profile—so, if wanting to reproduce this, could be taken on by López. At Sassuolo, he’s a lot more centrally orientated.

So, there you have it. The second player I’d look at signing this summer—this time slotting straight into the XI as the RCM of a 4–3–3. There is also a few “high profile”, European talents that could replicate this role to a good level, but would require large transfer fees to relocate to the East Midlands.

That style of business completely differs from the transfer model imposed by the Head of Recruitment and their staff, despite seeing changes in personnel in those departments, this philosophy will remain. Available for less than £20million, and capable of subsiding a lot of Tielemans’ qualities, I think Leicester City could allocate those funds in worse ways than this.