Jonathan Tah of Leverkusen runs with the ball during the Bundesliga match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and SC Paderborn 07 at BayArena on August 17, 2019 in Leverkusen, Germany. (Getty Images)
According to transfer news by German outlet SportBILD (h/t Leicester Live), Leicester City are interested in a move for Bayer Leverkusen defender, Jonathan Tah. The Foxes have been linked with Ozan Kabak recently but Tah is the latest defender to be named as a potential target.
There is also hope that Leverkusen let him go in the summer. The report mentions that the German side would be open to Tah leaving if they can secure the signature of Mainz’s Jeremiah St Juste. Tah is said to be available for less than the €35million release clause that was in his contract last year.
Leicester City are all set to lose Christian Fuchs and Wes Morgan this summer. The two veterans are in the final weeks of their current contract and the Foxes, as of now, will start the next season without them. Fuchs is a full-back but was used as a centre-back by Brendan Rodgers in the early stages of this Premier League season.
Morever, such was the shortage of centre-backs at times for Rodgers that he had to play full-backs and defensive midfielders in defence this season. Playing a 3-man defence needs depth and quality in the centre-back department, which is what Tah would provide. The 25-year-old is a seasoned centre-back who played 35 times last season for his side.
Caglar Soyuncu, Wesley Fofana, and Jonny Evans are the dependable players in the team. While Soyuncu and Fofana are young with a lot of footballing years ahead of them, Evans is fast approaching the twilight of his career at 33, if he hasn’t reached it already.
The fee, as mentioned above, makes sense for Leicester City because they will now have to pay less money than any of Tah’s suitors would have had to pay for him last year. And moreover, signing quality defenders with International and top-flight experience requires a fat cheque usually.
Even then, Tah would not be the most expensive defender in their current team. Leicester shelled out an impressive £36.5million fee (add-ons included) for Fofana when he was a 19-year-old. So it seems that the club knows that quality doesn’t come cheap.
Another peculiar advantage that Leicester could have when signing Tah, granted they complete the transfer early, is that he has not been called up by the German national team for the Euros. He already has a number of appearances for the German national team but will sit this tournament out.
This would give him time to settle in at Leicester before the start of next season. He is also only 25, which means he can give the Foxes a number of years at his peak. Only time will tell if Leicester formalize their interest in the German.
