Former Leeds striker Noel Whelan has claimed that Liverpool ‘would love’ Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans to join the club and believes the Belgian ‘ticks a lot of boxes’ for Jurgen Klopp’s side.
The Leicester No. 8 netted a penalty in the Foxes draw with West Ham at the weekend and Brendan Rodgers has recently claimed that his side must be prepared to see the talented midfielder depart the club.
“He’s one of these players who has everything that clubs like Arsenal and Liverpool would love,” Whelan told Football Insider.
“He’s very neat and tidy on the ball, fantastic creator, brilliant passing range, he works hard, set pieces – he ticks a lot of boxes for the clubs in that top four.
“I’m sure all of them would like to have a player of his quality and ability in their ranks.
“It does seem like the Leicester and Tielemans love affair is set to come to an end, and Brendan has probably realised that.
“He’s been a fantastic servant to Leicester, but when you have a quality player like him – no disrespect to Leicester – there’s always going to be the bigger animals looking to prise these players away. That’s just how football is.”
The Belgium international has seven goals and three assists across all competitions this season, but with no disrespect to Leicester, it would be exciting to see how he’d perform in a stronger side.
If he was to have the likes of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz ahead of him with their impressive movement and quality finishing, he would be able to showcase his passing ability and pick up a lot more assists potentially.
The 24-year-old is out of contract in 2023 so the Reds may therefore be tempted to make a move for Tielemans next year – there is the potential to sign the former AS Monaco man on a free transfer if he doesn’t extend his stay at the Foxes.
Only time will tell – for now, we have more than enough options in the midfield area.