Report: £18m Premier League player wanted to join Leicester and hasn’t started since

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Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester City reportedly tried and failed to sign Jannik Vestergaard from Premier League rivals Southampton in January.

Jannick Vestergaard wanted to leave Southampton for Leicester City during the January transfer window, according to the Mirror, with an £18 million centre-back now stuck well down the pecking order at St Mary’s.

While Leicester appear to be on the verge of qualifying for the Champions League for the second time in their history, the Saints are just trying to avoid the Championship.

And a former Borussia Monchengladbach star would be forgiven for feeling a little bitter as he whiles away the season on the bench.

Vestergaard has stared just two of Southampton’s last 17 Premier League games after all since being denied the chance to join the 2016 title winners.

Head coach Ralph Hasenhuttl was reluctant to let any members of his first-team squad walk away in January but the Austrian has found little room in his plans for the Dane since then, with Jan Bednarek and Jack Stephens firmly established as Southampton’s centre-back pairing.

The Mirror reports that Vestergaard was hopeful of sealing a move to Leicester midway through a difficult 2019/20 campaign but due to Hasenhuttl’s stance, and that £25 million price-tag, he was forced to stay put for the time being.

“I heard about interest in the transfer window and that is always positive. But I won’t talk about it and I can’t comment on any clubs,” says a defender who’s reputation was understandably tainted by a 9-0 thrashing by Leicester City in October.

“I was told the manager wanted to keep me because he had confidence in me.”

Vestergaard will know exactly how Che Adams is feeling right now. Another big-money Southampton signing who has fallen out of favour under Hasenhuttl, Adams was blocked from joining Leeds United in January and has since played just 34 minutes of top-flight football (BBC).

It must be said, however, the imperious form of Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu at Leicester means first-team action might have been even harder to come by for Vestergaard at Leicester. The grass isn’t always greener.