Tottenham Hotspur want to sign Leicester City midfielder James Maddison in the summer but have been told to cough up ‘at least £50million’, according to John Percy.
The Foxes have been relegated from the Premier League and are expected to cash in on the England midfielder, who is out of contract in 2024.
Newcastle United and Tottenham are believed to be the frontrunners for Maddison’s signature, with previous reports claiming the Championship outfit will ask for around £40m.
However, it has been reported by The Telegraph’s John Percy that Leicester have set an ‘initial asking price’ of ‘over £50m’.
Leicester have accepted that Maddison can leave the club this summer, with that outcome extremely likely, but they have set such a high price tag because of ‘his statistics, position and homegrown status’.
Another reason is that the Foxes agreed to include a 15 per cent sell-on clause from any profit they make from the £25m agreement they made with Norwich City in the summer of 2018.
Leicester are ‘notoriously’ difficult to negotiate with having rinsed Chelsea for £70m for Wesley Fofana last summer and they have previously received big bucks for the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Harry Maguire.
They obviously want a bidding war for Maddison, who ‘is likely to have a long line of potential suitors’.
and Tottenham are the only two clubs given a mention in the report, with the latter ‘set to move’ for Maddison.
New Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has apparently made the signing a ‘priority’ and the Australian has given the ‘green light’ for the club’s bosses to sign him from Leicester.
Spurs are obviously hoping the Foxes lower their asking price, but the Londoners know it is unlikely, given their track record in the transfer market.
The report also gives some information on Leicester’s hunt for a new manager.
Ex-Aston Villa boss Dean Smith took charge of their final eight Premier League games of the season but could not steer them to safety.
It is noted that the appointment of Graham Potter is extremely unlikely following Leicester’s relegation to the second tier.
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