Leicester City suffered a blow this week as Harry Maguire departed and secured a move to join Manchester United on the eve of the new Premier League season.
Brendan Rodgers was full of praise for the towering centre-half throughout the summer despite ongoing speculation over his future, but the Foxes boss now has a huge void to fill in his defence.
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According to Sky Sports, they had considered Bournemouth defender Nathan Ake as a potential replacement, but the Cherries have slapped a £75m price-tag on the Dutch international.
Unsurprisingly, that is said to have been enough for Leicester to look elsewhere, while the report adds that Burnley’s James Tarkowski could be an alternative option but would still possibly cost them more than £40m.
In turn, perhaps there is an argument to suggest that Leicester should have secured a deal for Maguire’s replacement before giving his exit the green light, as that would have avoided a late scramble with just over 48 hours to go until the transfer deadline.
Further, with Maguire’s £80m fee seemingly now common knowledge, rival clubs will know that the Foxes aren’t short of transfer funds this week and so they will arguably see all their targets become more expensive.
Time will tell if Rodgers manages to bring in another signing before the deadline, but it certainly looks as though Ake will not be the solution to his problem.
