Leicester City transfer rumours: Harry Maguire going to the deadline

As it’s been all summer, any transfer news update for Leicester City has to start with the situation surrounding Harry Maguire’s potential sale to Manchester United.

The most recent news is that, really, there is no news. Every few days someone claims a fee has been “agreed”, but Rodgers confirmed after the Stoke City game that there was no change from his previous updates; the club had received one bid each from Manchester City and United, for around £65m.

We know the club wont take less than £80m, so any buyers have just 10 days to close the gap before the transfer deadline.

If it goes to the end we might miss out on someone. There may be a time that even if the valuation is met, it might be too late

While Rodgers had given us the impression that there might be a separate Maguire Deadline, he seemed to back off slightly this weekend, saying that he “hadn’t thought about that”.

It’s not much in the way of news, but it’s the closest we’ve got. It looks like this deal might go right down to the 8th, although probably not to the 17:00 deadline.

Another Attacking Midfielder

In between occasional snippets of Maguire news, the other piece of genuine transfer news was that Rodgers is still actively looking to add to the squad, particularly targeting an attacking midfielder.

So far through preseason Andy King, Khanya Leshabela and Adrien Silva have taken up those roles behind the starters James Maddison and Youri Tielemans, so it’s reasonable to want to add another option.

However, his comments after the midweek game in Cheltenham suggest that the search might not be as urgent as some fans would like.

If one becomes available in that position that we want, then fantastic. If not, then we will go with the players that we have. Like I say, we have guys searching and looking, but if it’s not there, then it’s okay.

So yes, we might still see another midfielder come in, but only if a good deal is available. Something can come about quite quickly, but it’s been very quiet regarding actual targets, and as of right now there’s very little going on.

Several Outgoings

Another fairly consistent theme throughout the transfer window has been that the squad is too big, and several of the fringe squad members have to be sold. Again though, very little seems to be likely to happen soon.

Mendy is apparently wanted by Saint Ettienne, but the injury he picked up at the weekend might interfere with that. It’s also been a long time since any update on Monaco’s interest in Adrien Silva.

Time is less of an issue for these deals though. While the English deadline is August 8th, most of Europe has until September 2nd, and are allowed to buy or loan from England, even after our deadline.

That’s not great for business though. Once the Premier League window closes, the Foxes will have to make a decision on their 25 man squad.

Several of the first team squad would have to be left unregistered, which would mark them as players the team needs to get rid of, and drastically worsen our bargaining position for any sale.