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Leicester City have rarely been involved in big deadline day deals. Of late, the club has usually preferred to have all their transfer deals wrapped up before now. This year, however, several deals remain up in the air and it could all come down to the last frantic hours of the window.
Deadline day is of course hugely overblown. Most the of the exciting last minute deals come from desperation more than anything and teams tend to overpay. The player’s we’re linked with, however, we have been chasing for a while, so we’re sticking to the plan at least, but the overpay is possible. Still, we just won huge sums of money, so it’d be rude not to spend some of it.
Rumours and speculation
The backbone of the transfer news column. Some of it’s true, some of it’s completely made up and almost of all of it comes from ‘unnamed sources’. So what’s on the table for the Foxes today:
IN
Islam Slimani, ST, Sporting Clube de Portugal - £30m
If this transfer seems to have taken years to get across the line, that’s because it has. Sporting’s version of Jamie Vardy (though he cost only 1⁄3 the price) was hunted by Nigel Pearson in 2014. When does it move from chasing to stalking? Nothing official yet, but some news outlets are reporting that a fee has been agreed.
Adrien Silva, CM, Sporting CP - £??m
This one’s got pretty ugly. The player announced his intention to leave several days ago, admitting that Leicester were interested, and he was returning that interest. Sporting issued a response stating in no uncertain terms club that he was not for sale at any price. Since then his agent and father have become involved, accusing the club of a lack of respect and not honouring agreements.
Reports are wildly varying between a £21m bid to a double deal for Silva and Slimani for anywhere from £45-60m. Honestly, I have no idea what’s going to happen with this one. Don’t hold your breath, I’d suggest, but you never know.
OUT
We could see a number of players leaving today, particularly those first team squad members who were not given squad numbers for this season, including Gökhan Inler and Yohan Benalouane. Christian Fuchs has been linked with Liverpool, but I’d be very surprised to see anything happen there.
If Slimani does join, we could see the rumours of Leo Ulloa leaving, permanently or on loan, pick up as well. He was linked with Swansea earlier this summer, but the Guardian reports Sunderland and several Spanish sides may have interest
News
Usually in much shorter supply than rumours, but it looks like we have our first deal of the day:
Turkish champions Besiktas have announced that the former Switzerland captain has passed a medical ahead of a permanent move.
Islam Silmani from Sporting CP
We’ve been waiting on this one all day. And all summer and longer, but it’s officially done. The transfer record is smashed for a 3rd time this summer. Crazy time to be a Leicester fan.
Slimani deal shows the extent of Leicester City's ambition and their determination not to waste the momentum of that title triumph.
— Phil McNulty (@philmcnulty) August 31, 2016
That’s it then, the window is CLOSED. Ulloa will remain on the inside, looking out, while the Adrien Silva dream dies for now. If the Silmani deal has told us anything, however, it’s that when this team sets it’s sights on someone they don’t give up. Further bids in January or next summer wouldn’t be a surprise.