Graeme Bailey has insisted he ‘wouldn’t rule out Liverpool’ in the race for James Maddison’s signature this summer.
The Leicester City star is attracting interest from a number of Premier League clubs including Newcastle and Spurs and it’s likely that the current campaign will be the 26-year-old’s last at the King Power – even if the Foxes do avoid relegation to the Championship.
The Anfield outfit reportedly registered their interest in the England international last month and the East Midlands outfit are believed to be seeking a fee in the region of £50m for their No. 10.
Bailey told TEAMtalk: “I am told that Newcastle’s interest in Maddison has never dissipated. They have wanted him since last summer, it is a target agreed upon throughout the club from the board, to Dan Ashworth to Eddie Howe, they are in sync.
“Newcastle also know what sort of price the deal will be, however, there is a lot of interest. Newcastle will not have a clear run at him.
“Sources close to the player insist there are a number of clubs showing an interest. We know Tottenham have always been big fans and remain so, whilst I wouldn’t rule out Liverpool coming in for him.
“This is not a done deal in terms of where he is going to go, far from it.”
We will certainly be in the market for midfielders this summer and Maddison has shown down the years that he’s a player with a lot of quality.
He has struggled this term, as have the majority of his Leicester teammates, but the former Norwich City man has still registered 10 goals and nine assists in 29 appearances (across all competitions).
He’s an extremely creative player and you’d suspect that he’d thrive with the likes of Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Diogo Jota ahead of him.
The versatile midfielder will enter the final 12 months of his current deal at the end of the season so Dean Smith’s side may therefore be willing to sell this summer to avoid seeing him for free next year.
He’s certainly too good to be plying his trade in the Championship so it’ll be interesting to see what happens come the summer.