Leicester in ‘concrete’ approach for 30-goal forward with double Daka connection as value revealed
Leicester City have been trying to reunite Patson Daka with one of his former attacking colleagues, according to a report.
After a quiet summer transfer window, Leicester were a bit busier in January. They brought in Victor Kristiansen, Tete and Harry Souttar to give themselves a mid-season boost. Brendan Rodgers, on the other hand, is hoping to lift them up to the Premier League table.
Across all competitions, Leicester have drawn a gap in front of goal in half of their six games so far in 2023. Only once have they scored more than once in a game since the turn of the calendar year.
Therefore, Winger Tete could be particularly challenged in the last third in an attempt to reverse their fate.
Aware of this need, Leicester appear to have looked at a wider range of players as well. After L’Equipeanother player on their radar is Sekou Koita.
The Malian international previously played alongside current Leicester striker Patson Daka at RB Salzburg and before that at his feeder club Liefering in Austria.
In 37 games with the same team – all but two of them for Salzburg – Daka and Koita each provided five assists.
With Daka only scoring three goals from 22 appearances this season, Leicester have therefore explored the idea of pairing them again.
L’Equipe claims Leicester made “concrete” contact with Salzburg in January to sign Koita. The Premier League club would have been willing to offer around €10m (£8.9m) to win him.
It could have been a tempting offer for Salzburg, who have barely (nine times to be exact) used Koita this season due to injury.
Leicester fail with attempted transfer from Koita
However, the Austrian side stood their ground, believing they could possibly land a better offer for the 23-year-old in the summer.
Leicester weren’t the only disappointed side as Hoffenheim also made an attempt to get them into the Bundesliga. Koita also has admirers in Ligue 1 with Marseille who were reluctant to bid due to his physical condition.
Only under contract with Salzburg until 2024, Koita could still be interesting for one of these clubs in the summer.
For now, he must focus on adding to his only goal scored this season and the 30 he has scored in 63 games in his entire Salzburg career.
For their part, Leicester will continue to have to make do with Daka, Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho as main strikers. They also increasingly rely on players like James Maddison and Harvey Barnes to score goals from other roles.
CONTINUE READING: Man City line up ridiculous double strike including Leicester ace set to see Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool and Newcastle tremble in their boots
