Leicester City midfielder Youri Tielemans has long been touted as a potential Gini Wijnaldum replacement option, such as here in the Leicester Mercury before Christmas.
The Belgian shares many of Gini’s traits, as he’s extremely technical, hard-working and almost impossible to dispossess when he’s on the football.
Sadly, Wijnaldum is departing at the end of this season on a free contract, and Liverpool will need to replace the man who plays more midfield games than any other under Jurgen Klopp.
Tielemans is destined for greatness, and it’s no surprise Fabrizio Romano has explained how Brendan Rodgers’ side are trying to extend his contract to fend off outside interest.
Leicester will push in the coming weeks to extend Youri Tielemans contract. Christian Eriksen was a ‘real’ target in January but no agreement with Inter on loan fee + salary [€4m after taxes], same as Tottenham. The club will plan to sign a new midfielder in the summer. 🔵 #lcfc
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) February 9, 2021
The issue with any approach for Tielemans is that he’ll be monstrously expensive.
Leicester made Manchester United pay over £80m for Harry Maguire, and Tielemans is a far better player.
If Liverpool are going to spend that kind of money, it should be for a Kylian Mbappe or Jadon Sancho – an absolute game-changer in the Virgil van Dijk mould when we broke that transfer record.
The player Liverpool should try to get from Leicester is Harvey Barnes.