Leicester can forget Soule with move for “elite” £10m-rated gem
Everything now appears to feel settled at the King Power Stadium this summer, with the shock of Enzo Maresca’s exit to Chelsea disorienting those with Leicester City connections momentarily.
Now, everyone associated with the newly promoted Foxes will hope Steve Cooper can be a success from the dug-out, with his first task – at a minimum – centring in on him attempting to keep his new side up in the Premier League.
The Welshman will find achieving this almighty task easier if he is given more freedom in the transfer market to come, with ambitious moves for the likes of Juventus starlet Matias Soule rumoured to be in the pipeline.
Yet, it already looks as if Leicester have other targets in mind in case they can’t tempt the South American attacker to join the King Power ranks.
Leicester eyeing up Matias Soule alternative
As per an exclusive report by SportItalia, Leicester are very much interested in trying to snap up Alexis Saelemaekers this summer, who starred out on loan last season in Serie A with Thiago Motta’s Bologna.
Other reports suggest that the Foxes could win the services of the Belgian winger for a fee in the region of £10m-£12.5m, which is far less than the eye-watering £30m+ price tag put above Soule’s head at this moment in time.
Saelemaekers could be their desired target, therefore, as his current employers attempt to get him off their books as soon as possible, amidst all this frenzied interest.
What Saelemaekers can offer Leicester
The 12-time Belgium international will go down as an underwhelming buy from the perspective of the Italian giants you imagine, even if he is sold on to recoup some of their money back, with an unsatisfactory 24 goal contributions coming his way from 140 contests.
Saelemaekers did impress last season with Bologna, however, where he picked up four goals and three assists from 32 games, playing predominantly down the Serie A outfit’s left flank.
Across his varied career to date, which has seen him play for the likes of Anderlecht in his native Belgium alongside playing in Italy, Saelemaekers has garnered a reputation for being a flexible and versatile talent, as can be seen clearly when looking at the table above.
Cooper would love to have the in-demand 25-year-old at his disposal ahead of a challenging season to come, therefore, knowing that he could have selection issues all over the pitch when crunch games begin showing up on the intense fixture schedule.
Even described as being an “elite” footballer when at his peak for Milan – before he fell down the pecking order at the San Siro – by football talent scout Jacek Kulig, he could play a key role next campaign for his new side in attempting to keeping them around in the Premier League.
A more shrewd purchase than Soule, that won’t completely dent the Foxes’ bank account, alongside offering more flexibility than the Argentine forward, Saelemaekers could prove to be a very smart purchase addition by Leicester if pulled off.
