According to reports, Leicester City are close to landing Sporting Lisbon midfielder Adrien Silva as Craig Shakespeare makes a last-ditch attempt to fill the gap that would be left by the impending departure of Danny Drinkwater. The Portuguese midfielder has reportedly been granted the permission to leave the training camp with all assuming it is concerning his move to Leicester City.
The Foxes have spent the entire deadline day in fear of losing Danny Drinkwater, who is most likely to join Chelsea anytime. That coupled with the club’s decision to send Nampalys Mendy on a season long loan to Ligeu1 side Nice, further demands the club to get a defensive midfielder immediately.
Adrien Silva had reportedly revealed said a year ago that he wanted to play for the Foxes and the club has retained their interest in him since then. The Foxes had tabled a bid of around £25 million last summer but a deal failed to materialize.
However, things look much more concrete now. The statement released by the Portuguese FA, read, “The National Selector Fernando Santos and the FPF authorized the player Adrien to leave the concentration of National Selection until this Friday.”
Midfield has been Leicester’s concern since the departure of N’Golo Kante last summer. Mendy was supposed to be his replacement but the French midfielder suffered a long-term injury that kept him out for most of the season. Now with him back to familiar surroundings, Shakespeare have to change his style of play.
Adrien Silva is more a replacement of Drinkwater, given the composed and disciplined style of play he is known for. More than anything else, Silva would bring huge chunks of experience to King Power Stadium. An academy product of French club Bordeaux, Silva was picked up by Portuguese side Sporting CP early in 2001 when he was only 15.
His supreme technique and disciplined displays had led to realize his potential then although Silva took some seven years to break into the first team. It took few loan stints with Israeli side Maccabi Haifa and second tier Portuguese side Académica Coimbra to polish his skill set. Since breaking into the first team of Sporting CP, Silva has played 200 games helping them to win seven domestic titles.
Pulling strings from the deep midfield, Silva has scored 38 goals and registered 19 assists so far and mostly remains involved in all significant build-up of the side. Silva has been capped 16 times in national colours so far, which included an important role in Portugal’s Euro 2016 campaign.
