Leicester City will be looking to improve after they finished ninth in the just-concluded campaign. One expected them to have a better outing but they were inconsistent in their performances throughout the season. Claude Puel is facing some backlash, especially the way they ended their season as they lost five games in their last seven encounters.
They will be looking to rebuild from here on and will hope to challenge for a Europa League spot in the upcoming season. For that, they seem to have zeroed in on Lazio’s talent Felipe Anderson.
The 25-year-old winger had a good season as he helped his side finish fifth in the Serie A. Anderson was once touted to be the next big thing in the footballing world and was even linked with Manchester United in the initial phase of his career. The Brazilian, however, hasn’t managed to reach such heights but will certainly be a handful in the Premier League if he decides to leave the Italian outfit.
According to reports, he is going to cost £35m and the likes of Southampton and West Ham United are also vying for his signature. Anderson has one cap with his national side Brazil but recently he missed the plane to Russia as he was not picked for the World cup squad. However, he enjoyed a good season with Lazio who narrowly missed out on Champions League qualification to Inter Milan. He finished with a tally of 8 goals and 10 assists in 32 appearances.
The Foxes are on the verge of losing their talismanic winger Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City and it is very likely that the Algerian will turn out for a much lighter shade of blue next season. In that case, they will be left with a huge hole to fill as Leicester City are heavily dependent on Mahrez to provide attacking output and a moment of spark from the right wing.
It is being reported that Manchester City will be paying somewhere around £80m to acquire the services of Mahrez. Leicester will definitely be looking to use some of that amount to bring in a replacement for him and Anderson could be a good option to have.
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With competition from other Premier League teams, we can see a bidding war for the player and Lazio might just be looking to sell him as they missed out on Champions League qualifications. The Foxes will be hoping that Anderson hits the ground running in the Premier League if they manage to sign him as he will have a big responsibility of replacing Mahrez.
