Maddison In New Contract Talks; We're Selling No-One.

[urban.spaceman]

Leicester City will not be selling its key players in January transfer window, insists manager Brendan Rodgers

• John Percy

James Maddison is expected to be handed a new improved contract by high-flying Leicester City Credit: REX FEATURES

Brendan Rodgers has insisted that none of his Leicester players will be sold in January, as the club open contract talks with England international James Maddison.

Rodgers is adamant that he will be keeping all of his squad together in a bid to give the former Premier League champions the best opportunity of a return to European competition next season.

Maddison, Ben Chilwell, Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu have all been discussed as potential targets by rival clubs but the message could not be clearer from Leicester’s manager, who has guided the club to second in the table. The club are already planning for the future after entering preliminary talks over a new deal with Maddison, who made his England debut against Montenegro last week.

Rodgers said: “We want to grow, and there’s a lot of development left in this squad. We’ve absolutely no plans to lose anyone in January. Our job is to keep what we have and if there’s an opportunity to improve the squad we will look to do that. If not, we will carry on with the squad we have, which is very strong.”

Maddison is understood to be on the radar of Manchester United after an impressive breakthrough in the top flight, and Leicester are keen to offer him improved terms, although the attacking midfielder has more than three years left on his current contract after joining from Norwich for £21 million.

“If you look at his numbers this season, in terms of the goals he has scored and created, he has shown he is a big-game player,” said Rodgers. “He has scored goals against Liverpool, against Tottenham, against Arsenal. James is among a lot of very good players with England and it’s just about preference, whether Gareth [Southgate] and his staff want to pick him. You can see he is at the level. If not, he will continue to work. He doesn’t expect to play, he’s not entitled, but he loves playing and will hopefully get many more caps for his country.”

Rodgers will sanction the departures of fringe players in January, including Nampalys Mendy, Daniel Amartey and Filip Benkovic.

Leicester face Brighton on Saturday in search of their fifth league win in a row.

 

[StanSP]

Standard from an agent of a player who's hot property. Deserves it.

[Sampson]

I'm assuming that Benkovic departure is on loan or do we really not rate him to step up despite his transfer fee?

[UniFox21]

1 minute ago, Sampson said:

I'm assuming that Benkovic departure is on loan or do we really not rate him to step up despite his transfer fee?

What I was thinking, assuming it is a loan given how highly he was rated

[st albans fox]

If benko leaves then we will surely buy another defender in jan 

[Ric Flair]

Ricardo needs offering a new deal very quickly as well

[Steve_Guppy_Left_Foot]

Rodgers knows how good benkovic is, the fact he's not made a squad yet (I think) speaks volumes, if we do move him on we definitely need to get someone else in.

[ealingfox]

Benkovic must be crap in training.

[Nick]

I’m not sure about the Benkovic departure - wondering if it’s not form but attitude and frustration from the player? I wonder if he’ll end up at Celtic and we’ll make a small profit or break even on what we paid.

[Dorkingfox]

Leicester will not sell players in January, says Rodgers

(Reuters) - Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers says they will not be selling players in the January transfer window but could make additions if an opportunity to improve the squad comes their way.

[SheppyFox]

Great news, january isn’t a worry imo it’s the summer we’ll get pillaged.

[Tom12345]

27 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Benkovic must be crap in training.

Hate to say this, but is this a reflection of the gulf between the EPL and the SPL? 👀

[StriderHiryu]

8 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

Ricardo needs offering a new deal very quickly as well

My thoughts exactly. I can understand why Maddison is up first because being a creative English midfielder who can score, his value is likely the highest in our squad. But Ricardo has been one of our star performers for the longest period of time in terms of consistency. He could play immediately for anyone and I’m sure clubs will come calling for him.

[weller54]

30 minutes ago, SheppyFox said:

Great news, january isn’t a worry imo it’s the summer we’ll get pillaged.

Not when we've got CL football next season we won't. 

[joachim1965]

2 hours ago, weller54 said:

Not when we've got CL football next season we won't. 

My thoughts exactly.

[surrifox]

12 hours ago, StanSP said:

Standard from an agent of a player who's hot property. Deserves it.

100% . Must be on a fraction of what garbage like Lingard takes home and is twice the player 

[Silva Fox]

Love this club!

[Muzzy_Larsson]

I wouldn't write Benkovic off just yet, given him missing pre-season Rodgers is usually very careful with young players in this way or players he wants to change their game to make an impact on the side.  There were several examples of this at Celtic, Boyata who was left out in the cold until November in his first season and then went on to become our number 1 centre back throughout the rest of Rodgers time at Celtic, Armstrong was similar in that he only started becoming a regular in the second half of Rodgers first season and latterly Ryan Christie who was loaned out twice and left kicking his heels on the bench for a good while before getting his chance.

[surrifox]

3 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

My thoughts exactly. I can understand why Maddison is up first because being a creative English midfielder who can score, his value is likely the highest in our squad. But Ricardo has been one of our star performers for the longest period of time in terms of consistency. He could play immediately for anyone and I’m sure clubs will come calling for him.

I'm  a bit surprised that no-one has spotted Ricardo before. Hes 26 or thereabouts and must have been looked at and would have been visible through European competitions. Perhaps this growth spurt is really down to BR and Puel (which appears a little fanciful)

[lgfualol]

Should loan Benkerz to a Prem team, one with a shit defence like Norwich.

 

Get Madderz and Rickerz on new contracts asap. 

[Ric Flair]

3 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

My thoughts exactly. I can understand why Maddison is up first because being a creative English midfielder who can score, his value is likely the highest in our squad. But Ricardo has been one of our star performers for the longest period of time in terms of consistency. He could play immediately for anyone and I’m sure clubs will come calling for him.

By the end of this current season i'd hope we have entered talks for new deals for Maddison, Ricardo, Soyuncu and Evans. Tielemans only signing a 4 year deal means we'll surely look to get him on a new deal within the next 12-18 months and will rely on whether we've secured CL football or not.

[ian_marshall]

14 minutes ago, surrifox said:

I'm  a bit surprised that no-one has spotted Ricardo before. Hes 26 or thereabouts and must have been looked at and would have been visible through European competitions. Perhaps this growth spurt is really down to BR and Puel (which appears a little fanciful)

I'm sure it was mentioned on here somewhere that Ricardo featured in an article by 442 magazine as being one of the top ten most promising player's in Europe just before we signed him, so can't imagine he was an unknown entity. I got the impression at the time that we managed to secure him because of his prior relationship with Puel and also that there were a few other highly rated RBs who knocking about who other teams opted for instead. 

[surrifox]

14 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

By the end of this current season i'd hope we have entered talks for new deals for Maddison, Ricardo, Soyuncu and Evans. Tielemans only signing a 4 year deal means we'll surely look to get him on a new deal within the next 12-18 months and will rely on whether we've secured CL football or not.

it might be a bit of a truism  but securing CL football is purely  down to the performance of  these first team  players queuing up for megabuck contracts - it's harsh on the club and supporters  to think they might walk  if a top 4 place eludes us given our current position. their fate is in their own hands!

[StriderHiryu]

1 hour ago, surrifox said:

I'm  a bit surprised that no-one has spotted Ricardo before. Hes 26 or thereabouts and must have been looked at and would have been visible through European competitions. Perhaps this growth spurt is really down to BR and Puel (which appears a little fanciful)

My gut feeling is that due to his size his physicality was seen as an issue. Leicester got lucky with players like Kante, Mahrez and Riccy who all show talent can beat genetics. But at the same time I feel Adrien Silva failed not due to talent but because he couldn’t cope with the league. He had been linked with Spurs so teams definitely rated his technical skill. 

 

For me Ricardo is genuine world class. Doubt we will have a better RB ever again!

[Babylon]

1 hour ago, surrifox said:

I'm  a bit surprised that no-one has spotted Ricardo before. Hes 26 or thereabouts and must have been looked at and would have been visible through European competitions. Perhaps this growth spurt is really down to BR and Puel (which appears a little fanciful)

There was interest, like there was interest in Maddison. It's about taking a risk where the bigger clubs might not. They would have been concerned about the fact he's a fairly recently converted winger and the quality of leagues he's been in. We took the plunge despite there being a few question marks, just as we did with Slim and Silva. Sometimes it works in your favour, sometimes it doesn't.