Steve Cooper will want to be focusing his efforts on the players who will be at Leicester City next season but he could be about to sanction the sale of a player for whom it never really worked out at the club.
After a positive start to pre-season, Leicester City have now lost consecutive friendlies at the hands of Palermo and Augsburg which will concern Steve Cooper so close to the new season.
To add to this, Jamie Vardy has not featured since the first friendly of the summer against Villarreal and now looks set to miss at least the opening game of the season against Tottenham Hotspur in a fortnight.
Leicester’s financial concerns meant that a fire-sale was expected this summer, however the £30 million departure of star man Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea looks to have been sufficient to ensure compliance with Premier League spending rules.
That has allowed Cooper to welcome four new signings, but it now looks as though a lesser-spotted Leicester man could be set to secure a permanent move away from the club.
Roma interested in signing Leicester City midfielder Boubakary Soumare
Leicester spent £17 million to sign midfielder Boubakary Soumare from Lille in summer 2021 in a deal that was widely considered good business for one of Europe’s most promising young midfielders.
However, the Frenchman has failed to live up to his potential at the King Power in his 59 appearances and was allowed to spend last season on loan at Sevilla.
Despite cementing a place in the starting line up and impressing in Spain, Sevilla opted not to trigger their option to buy Soumare for around £12.8 million this summer, leaving the player in limbo.
After looking bright early in pre-season, any hopes of a Leicester career revival look unlikely and it is now reported that Leicester could find a permanent suitor for Soumare to end his nightmare spell in England.
That is according to Italian newspaper Il Tempo, who report that AS Roma have ‘started contact’ with Soumare’s entourage to evaluate the possibility of a deal.
Soumare Leicester City exit best for all parties this summer
There is no doubting Soumare is a talented player but, for one reason or another, he has been unable to ever really showcase that regularly in a Leicester shirt.
In fact, Soumare caught the eye of former Arsenal striker Ian Wright when Sevilla faced the Gunners in the Champions League; evidencing that he can mix it with the best.
Speaking on the Wrighty’s House podcast, Wright singled out Soumare for praise despite Arsenal winning 2-1 over their Spanish opposition, saying: “The way we played… their midfield. I’ve to say Boubakary Soumare, on loan from Leicester, I thought he was so good.
“He really stifled out Martin Odegaard. I thought he was really good. He looked like a different player in the way he was playing.”
Souamare’s loan spell appears to have had the desired effect in terms of drumming up interest in his services and if Leicester receive an eight figure offer then they are very likely to be minded to take it.
With this money coming in, Cooper should then be able to reinvest into his squad which is in desperate need of additions prior to the start of the season.
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