Following the arrivals of Islam Slimani and Ahmed Musa over the summer, it wasn’t surprising to see the likes of Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa benched or left out of Leicester’s squads altogether.
With Ulloa likely to leave the King Power Stadium, Claudio Ranieri would only be left with four forwards until the end of what is proving to be a very difficult season for the Foxes.
Considering injuries are likely to happen and Leicester play two up top, this is why we’ve seen Leicester linked with a few strikers over the course of January, and a new one has emerged on Wednesday in Sassuolo’s Grégoire Defrel.
The Premier League side have been in contact a few times with their Serie A counterparts this January, with centre-back Federico Acerbi the reported target, but Il Messaggero on Wednesday mention a ‘strong interest’ in the Italian club’s French striker, with China also thrown into the mix for good measure.
AS Roma have been trying to convince Sassuolo to loan them Defrel until the end of the season with a view to buy, and refuse to offer over €16m.
The neroverde, down their end, are unwilling to listen to anything below €20-22m for their star striker.
Could Leicester really decide spend another £17-19m on a new striker? Considering only five points separate the champions and the relegation zone, with goals hard to come by, desperate times may call for desperate measures.
We doubt it, though.
