Jonathan Ikone (Getty Images)
As per Telefoot Chaine (h/t Leicestershire Live), Leicester City have made an offer for Lille youngster Jonathan Ikone ahead of the new campaign.
The report suggests that the Foxes could face competition to secure his services as Inter Milan have also submitted a bid for the attacking midfielder. He was also the target of Borussia Dortmund a few months back. The report claims that Ikone is valued at £40m but there are no signs of the player asking for a move elsewhere.
Born in France, Ikone started his journey with AS Bondy before flourishing through the ranks of Paris Saint Germain’s youth system. However, he struggled to make it regularly to the senior team and was sent on two different loan spells to Montpellier, where he made 37 appearances.
In the summer of 2018, Lille signed him for £4.6m and since then, he has been in good form. After scoring 3 goals and 10 assists in his debut season with the club, he scored 4 goals and provided 7 assists in 37 games in the following campaign. His impressive performances also earned him a call-up to the French national squad. He made his debut for France last September.
At the moment, James Maddison is the only attacking midfielder available at Brendan Rodgers’ disposal. The Englishman has been in sensational form in the last couple of seasons for the Foxes. But he was on the sidelines for the last few weeks of the 2019/20 campaign, where the Foxes struggled.
Youngster Bartosz Kapustka was just a squad member and he failed to make an impact during his time at King Power Stadium. However, he has been offloaded on a free transfer to Legia Warsaw. This has reduced Leicester’s numbers in the attacking unit. Thus, the Foxes should consider bringing in a creative player this summer.
In that regard, making a move for Ikone would be sensible. The French international has already shown his potential despite being just 22 and could be seen as an understudy to Maddison. He is also capable of operating on the flanks and could be an added bonus to Leicester.
Ikone could get his chances and develop under the guidance of Rodgers. His impressive numbers also speak of his high value.
With limited options in their creative department, it is clear that Leicester are in dire need of attacking midfielders. And Ikone, who is in great form, could provide them with some much-needed quality and could also depth to the squad. Thus, they should manage to lure the former PSG man to King Power Stadium at the earliest.
