How Leicester City may be able to maximise James Maddison transfer fee
By Alice Wright
James Maddison will leave Leicester City this summer not only because of their relegation, but with just one year left on his contract the Midlands club won’t want another Tielemans situation. The Foxes need to generate money for their Championship rebuild, with the number ten certainly being on the list of players to depart City this summer.
The 26-year-old has attracted multiple clubs that are hoping for his signature with Newcastle, Tottenham and Arsenal interested. The Magpies made two bids for ‘Madders’ last summer which were both rejected.
The Athletic reported that Maddison’s market value is around £40million, but with multiple clubs queuing up for a bidding war Leicester could receive a higher fee as this would raise the selling price.
The Foxes know all too well the benefits of a bidding war, with Harry Maguire selling for £80m in 2019 after both Manchester teams went head to head for the 30-year-old and making a world-record fee for a defender.
Maddison and Harvey Barnes will be used to fund Leicester’s Championship rebuild. Alongside the eight players out of contract there are multiple players like Timothy Castagne and Ricardo Pereira rumoured to potentially depart from the Foxes.
During his time at Leicester the England midfielder has racked up 203 appearances, scoring 55 goals and assisting 41. He will be a massive loss to City’s midfield, but with his talent and ability he’s a player that deserves top flight football.
One potential replacement for James Maddison is 22-year-old Danish-English midfielder Matt O’Riley. The central-midfielder moved from MK Dons to Celtic in January 2022 for £1.5m and has impressed since his move to Scotland.
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Celtic have already lost manager Ange Postecoglou to Tottenham and will want to hold onto O’Riley, who was Postecoglou’s most-used player in 2022-23. This season the Celtic midfielder made 52 appearances, scored four goals and assisted 14 in all competitions for the Scottish Premiership champions. He is currently estimated to be worth £7 million.