Speculation The hysterical and annoying, but traditional, totally unfounded spring/summer 2019 rumours thread.

[Speedy1]

I follow Alan Nixon on twitter. He's a quite reliable journalist and was the one close to Rodgers that was adamant that he was coming immediately after Puel left when nobody else thought so. He is clearly close to Rodgers or one of his entourage.

Anyway, he's been answering questions on transfers and he says that the word is that Leicester are going to spend big this summer. Inside the game it's expected that they will be spending a lot and that players will go where the money is. He also said that the players they want are proven high calibre ones, not potential / fringe ones.

He was not dismissive of suggestions such as Ziyech or Neres from Ajax for example. Interesting.

This is great an' all, but I think our priority in the Summer will be keeping the players we've got and signing Tielemans.

I wouldn't swap our back 4 (Ricky/Evans/Harry/Ben) for 99% of the what else would actually be available, if we can sign Tilelmans our midfield options are the best I can remember (excluding Kante), we just need a striker, possibly some back ups for the above, and maybe a winger. Surely not a situation where we need to spend that big.

But we will need to keep hold of Maddison/Chilwell/Ricky/Wilf/Maguire etc and that may cost in terms of improved contracts etc.

 

[City Fan]

£100m and he's there's

I can see him going for £50m. Hope I’m wrong, but I have a feeling he’ll be going.

 

[Skitzo]

£100m & Sane and he’s theirs

 

[Graz]

Why wouldn’t he be guaranteed first team? He’s better than Delph and Zinchenko.

I don’t think this rumour is going to go away to be honest. Left back is probably Man City’s weakest area, and Chilwell would definitely be Pep’s cup of tea considering how comfortable he is bombing forward.

They also have Mendy, who when fit would be ahead of Chilwell.

 

[Skitzo]

They also have Mendy, who when fit would be ahead of Chilwell.

But he seems to be made of glass

 

[City Fan]

They also have Mendy, who when fit would be ahead of Chilwell.

17 games in two years.

 

[Micky]

If we are going to invest that heavily, why would we then start to sell our best players. In my opinion, Chilwell will definitely stay but I have heard that Manchester United are very keen on Harry.

 

[alex]

Leicester and England defender Harry Maguire could play his final game for the Foxes on Sunday. Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all interested in the 26-year-old, but the Foxes will not sell him for less than £60m. (Sun)

 

[City Fan]

Leicester and England defender Harry Maguire could play his final game for the Foxes on Sunday. Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United are all interested in the 26-year-old, but the Foxes will not sell him for less than £60m. (Sun)

I can’t see Maguire going, personally. His stock this summer isn’t going to be as high as last summer after the World Cup. We’ll still want £60m but no one will want to pay that now.

 

[bocadillo]

Why wouldn’t he be guaranteed first team? He’s better than Delph and Zinchenko.

A year ago we would have argued that Mahrez was better than anything they had.

 

[Brown Nose]

If Nixon is correct in saying that we'll be in the top three spenders in the Premier League this summer, surely we'll have to sell someone? We can't spend that kind of money because of FFP can we?

It does suggest that Maguire is going to the highest bidder. Our signing of Benkovic and Soyuncu towards the end of last summer, whilst all the Maguire rumours were going on, made it pretty clear that we were prepared to sell if the price was right, even if we didn't really want to. I expect that Maguire will happily go this summer and I really don't think we'll be weaker without him.

The only other realistic alternative option is selling Chilwell and bringing in Tierney but I can't see that happening, even if Man City wave a huge amount at us.

I think we'll sell Maguire and sign Tielemans. I then think we'll spend around £100m on three attacking players and try to move a load of not needed players out*. That would make us very big spenders - circa £140m out, but bringing the best part of £100m back in and overall reducing the wage bill. With Simpson, Okazaki and Maguire going too, that's completing a much needed shrinking of the squad but making it quite a bit stronger as long as the big signings work out!

*Jakupovic, Elder, King, James, Ghezzal, Diabate, Kapustka, Silva, Slimani.

 

[BlueNotes]

Chilwell would definitely be Pep’s cup of tea considering how comfortable he is bombing forward.

and yet I don't see Chilwell as a Man City candidate at all. Not yet at any rate, but maybe Pep can see the potential for him to be one. Strange how perceptions differ.

 

[pork pie fox]

Maguire is 26 and therefore at a different stage in his career to our bunch of 21/22 year olds. I suspect we gave it the old “give us one more year” job to him last summer and it wouldn’t surprise me if he left (although I’d love him to stay). The younger players may be tempted by a move, but we’re in a strong position on that front, with our demands for large fees.

Ultimately, a good summer would be based on signing Tielemans and holding on to the rest of the core team. Add a couple of top signings to that and it would be an excellent summer.

 

[City Fan]

A year ago we would have argued that Mahrez was better than anything they had.

I wouldn’t have.

 

[bocadillo]

£100m and he's there's

£100m & Sane and he’s theirs

1 out of 2 ain't bad

 

[Micky]

I can’t see Maguire going, personally. His stock this summer isn’t going to be as high as last summer after the World Cup. We’ll still want £60m but no one will want to pay that now.

Well Harry can see it happening

 

[Ike O'Noclassed]

Maguire is 26 and therefore at a different stage in his career to our bunch of 21/22 year olds. I suspect we gave it the old “give us one more year” job to him last summer and it wouldn’t surprise me if he left (although I’d love him to stay). The younger players may be tempted by a move, but we’re in a strong position on that front, with our demands for large fees.

Ultimately, a good summer would be based on signing Tielemans and holding on to the rest of the core team. Add a couple of top signings to that and it would be an excellent summer.

Yes, I was wondering who is our Head of Senior Retention

 

[popillius]

I'd rather Chilwell go than Maguire by a country mile. Chilwell is still naive defensively and was very poor for four or five games before Arsenal. He is prone to patchy spells throughout a season even though he has been much improved in the last 12 months. We would be a little weaker going forward without him, that much is true but we would be far, far weaker in defence without Maguire. The best option is to keep both and there is nothing yet to suggest that we won't be trying to do that. We don't need to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in the summer, we really don't need to fall into that trap yet again. A new goalscorer, Tielemans and possibly a right back and we will be in excellent shape for next season.

If we can ship out the dross such as Slimani, Diabate, Ghezzal, Silva etc... then we could well end up with a net spend of only a few million quid.

We have already made our best signing with the appointment of Rodgers.

 

[alex]

Leicester's Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, 22, expects to return to Monaco this summer when his loan move at the Foxes ends. (VTM Nieuws - in Dutch)

 

[TommyK]

Maguire is an English international on a long contract in his prime. He should demand a premium price. 70-80 million.

As said above we've already replaced Maguire last summer so personally although I'd be sad to see him go, I don't think it's the end of the world if he does.

Chillwell has turned in to excellent left back. He is going to be a first choice international next season if he is playing regular. I think we'll get another season out of him before he moves on for mega money. We'd also need to sign a first choice replacement and I can't see us signing someone better.

On another point, I think eyes will start turning towards Richardo. Showing himself to be one of the best right backs in the league after a bit of a dodgy start to the season. I can see Man U being interested.