Leicester City midfielder Shinji Okazaki is reportedly a target for Italian outfit AC Milan as the club is looking to bolster their squad with forward players in the coming transfer window. Okazaki signed for Leicester in 2015 for a fee of £7m from Mainz 05 and has so far made 49 appearances for the club, striking the back of the net 9 times in total. It is believed that Milan wants Okazaki as a replacement for his compatriot Keisuke Honda, a player who has struggled to get game time under Montella at the San Siro this season.
Honda’s contract is up for expiry at the end of the season and with the recent fiasco that has involved some comments from the player about the Milan faithful has made the situation even worse.
Okazaki, on the other hand, is a player coveted by the Italians due to his impressive performances of last season as the Foxes scripted history by lifting the Premier League crown.
Coming after spending two excellent personal seasons with German outfit Mainz 05, the club where Okazaki managed to score 27 goals from 65 matches in the Bundesliga, the Japanese attacker came to Leicester and fitted right in under Ranieri.
In the 36 games played last season, Okazaki managed to score 5 goals but his real impact was in the way he carried out his job providing the work rate with relentless running and pressing the opposition players.
Playing up top with Jamie Vardy, Okazaki was the one who created the spaces with his movement and dropped deeper at times to function as the attacking central midfielder at times allowing Vardy to stay at the top to execute his runs to perfection.
This season, Leicester have spent a lot of money to bring in the replacements as forwards like Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani were added to the squad. Despite the arrival of two more forwards, Okazaki still remains one of the major components of how Leicester play and very much a part of the plan of his manager.
A player who is also a firm fan favourite, the 30-year-old attacker will be definitely hard to land for Milan as the Foxes won’t be willing to let him leave at the moment.
Milan might have a better chance of securing their two other targets in Michy Batshuayi and Cesc Fabregas, both of Chelsea as they look to bolster their squad in a bid to win their first title since 2011. Okazaki to Milan at the moment thus looks a bit unlikely.
