Football journalist and transfer insider Duncan Castles has been sharing some details on Leicester City’s reported chase of LOSC Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare.
This comes after Castles co-hosted a recent episode of The Transfer Window podcast where he spoke about a variety of transfer-related topics.
On the subject of Leicester’s reported interest in Soumare, Castles had this to say on the matter.
He said: “I think the one worry they have with Soumare was that they had come to a provisional agreement with the expectation that they’d be playing Champions League football next season and unfortunately, for the second season running, Rodgers has managed to let what looked like almost guaranteed entry into the Champions League slip at the tail-end of the season, which I think remains a big question mark over his management – not being able to get over the line.”
Soumare signed to Lille back in the 2017 summer window on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain’s B side. Since then, the 22-year-old, who is currently valued at £20.7 million, has made 112 appearances for the recently crowned Ligue 1 champions across all competitions, in which he has managed to pitch in with one goal and provide three assists in the process (per Transfermarkt).
TIF Thoughts on Duncan Castles’ comments on Leicester’s potential deal with Soumare…
Given how Leicester managed to end the latest Premier League season in 5th place, despite spending the majority of the campaign in the top four, it’s easy to see why Castles has suggested there could be an issue if Leicester had an agreement with the player with the prospect of Champions League football as one of their main attractions.
Are you confident Leicester will sign Soumare this summer?
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In our view, with Leicester presumably set to fight to secure a top-four finish next season, this would still be something for Soumare to help achieve if he does end up in a Leicester shirt this summer, although he would essentially be swapping a Champions League place for one in the Europa League.
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