Leicester City are reportedly keen on signing Monaco winger Sofiane Diop this summer, who has been valued at around £20million.
The Sun has reported that the Foxes are keen on weighing up a move to sign the winger who scored six goals and provided five assists in 30 Ligue 1 appearances during the 2021/22 season, having also represented France at youth level 20 times.
The report suggests that the France Under-21s international, who is also eligible to represent Senegal at international level, is hot on the radar of Brendan Rodgers’ side, who reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League in the 2021/22 campaign.
Diop made 45 appearances in all competitions during the 2021/22 season, scoring nine times in all competitions, as well as setting up seven other goals. During that time, he scored in a Europa League win over PSV Eindhoven and also scored three goals and provided two assists in the same game during a France Under-21s win against Armenia.
The move would be similar to one of the best pieces of business that Leicester have completed in recent years. After a successful loan spell at the start of 2019, Leicester City completed the signing of Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans on a permanet deal from Monaco for £32m.
Tielemans scored the winning goal for Leicester in the 2020/21 FA Cup final win over Chelsea at Wembley Stadium. Since his arrival, initially on loan, three and half years ago, Tielemans has played 158 times in all competitions for Leicester, scoring 24 goals.
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While Diop is a target of Leicester’s, one player who could depart the King Power Stadium this summer is midfielder Hamza Choudhury. The same report claims that West Bromwich Albion boss Steve Bruce is keen on signing Choudhury on loan and bringing The Hawthorns.
During Bruce’s time in charge of Newcastle United prior to moving to the West Midlands earlier this year, it was reported that Bruce wanted to sign Choudhury and bring him to St James’ Park, a move that never materialised.
The midfielder, who is of Bangladeshi-Grenadian ancestry, has played seven times for England’s under-21s but has never played for the Three Lions at senior level. Last season, Choudhury only made 12 appearances for Leicester’s first-team, six of which were in the Premier League.
During the 2020/21 campaign, Choudhury was part of the Leicester squad that won the FA Cup, beating Chelsea 1-0 final. The midfielder played as a substitute in the second half of that victory.
Leicester had an up and down 2021/22 term in all competitions, but did reach the semi-finals of the innaugral edition of the Europa Conference League, losing to eventual winners of the competition, Roma.
After an improved end to the campaign, Leicester finished eighth and missed out on a return to the Europa Conference League next season by five points.
