Leicester City Summer Shopping - Central Defenders

Hello, and welcome to our annual Leicester City Summer Shopping series, where we take a look at positions where the Foxes might be considering buying. Then, we find a group of players who have almost no chance of coming to City and explain why they would be great buys!

This year, we’re adding a wrinkle: We’re going to look at players who have legitimately been linked with moves to the East Midlands. We’ll also look at how the players fared statistically on WhoScored.com and what Transfermarkt.com believes their current value to be. We have generally avoided players who were promoted this year or have Champions League football guaranteed next year. I say “generally” because two of the most strongly linked players are with league champions.

If you had to pick a single cause for failing to reach the Champions League (aside from “winning enough matches”), it would have to be “injuries to defenders”, wouldn’t it? The Foxes used approximately 1,000,000,000 players in central defense last year with none of them getting more than 27 league starts. A little depth would go a long way for us.

Who We’re Linked With

James Tarkowski
Club: Burnley
Age: 28
Foot: Right
Rating: 7.02
Value: €25,000,000

We’re linked with Tarkowski because we’re always linked with Tarkowski. That’s a good thing: He’s one of the best defenders in the Premier League every year. He isn’t someone you want advancing the ball into the opposition half, but if you want a leader who will keep the ball out of the back of the net, he’s your man.

Kristoffer Ajer
Club: Celtic
Age: 23
Foot: Right
Rating: 7.23
Value: €4,000,000

Another player who has been rumoured to be in Leicester’s sights for years now, Ajer is very strong in the air as you’d expect off a player who stands 6’5”. He’s also (sing along, you know the words) very good with his feet for a big man. He’s mobile enough to be employed as a right back.

Jonathan Tah
Club: 25
Age: Bayer Leverkusen
Foot: Right
Rating: 6.75
Value: €20,000,000

Yet another target-of-multiple-windows, Tah is a big man who excels more at distributing the ball than he does at winning it. He’s a solid player with no glaring weaknesses, and the potential to improve, but he isn’t coming cheap.

Ozan Kabak
Club: Liverpool (on loan from Schalke)
Age: 21
Foot: Right
Rating: 6.72
Value: €25,000,000

Held his own under very difficult circumstances with Liverpool. He’s by no means the finished article, but he has a ton of upside and could get there quickly. He certainly isn’t intimidated by the Premier League, but he’s more of one for the future than a player who will step in immediately.

Other Options

Michal Helik
Club:Barnsley
Age: 25
Foot: Right
Rating: 7.23
Value: €2,500,000

A tall (6’3”) Poland international who was the best defender in the Championship. Disciplined, capable, and ready to impress at a higher level.

Kiki Kouyate
Club: Metz
Age: 24
Foot: Both
Rating: 7.10
Value: €5,000,000

I swear I don’t just want him because his first name is “Boubacar” and he’d fit nicely with Boubacary Soumare. Very aggressive defender who can pile up the yellow cards which isn’t a bad thing in my book. Good enough to challenge for a starting role in short order.

Harry Souttar
Club: Stoke
Age: 22
Foot: Right
Rating: 7.10
Value: €4,000,000

The tallest defender on this list (6’6”) and looks very much like the player we hoped Benkovic would be. Imperious in the air (duh) and not a brilliant passer, but he can defend and he’s only going to get better. Plus, I have a thing for Scotland defenders...