As Leicester City dropped into the dreaded UEFA Conference League on Thursday night, it was impossible not to think back to May 23rd and wonder what might have been.
For the second season in a row, Brendan Rodgers’ Leicester had Champions League football within their grasp. And for the second season in a row, they let it slip.
It was Jesse Lingard in 2020. One year on, it was Harry Kane and Gareth Bale who drove in the knife. Yesterday’s fateful 3-2 defeat at the Stadio San Paolo merely twisted the blade.
Leicester have made no secret of their desire to shed that ‘selling club’ tag.
Last summer was the first since winning the Premier League in 2016 that they did not allow a star player to join a direct top-flight rival, batting away interest in the likes of James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.
But if the Midland giants want to convince the likes of Tielemans that they would be better off staying put at the King Power Stadium, Conference League football is likely to prove more a hindrance than a help; an unwelcome Fox in Leicester’s coop.
Could Youri Tielemans now leave Leicester City for Liverpool?
90Min reported in October that Leicester’s £40 million Belgium international had rejected the chance to extend his contract beyond the summer of 2023.
Liverpool are interested. And, with nine places and 15 points separating the two clubs in the Premier League table, it’s hard to argue that swapping the King Power for Anfield would not represent a sizeable step forwards in Tielemans’ career development.
“There’s no update really. I’m open to everything,” the former Monaco and Anderlecht playmaker said in September when quizzed on his future.
“The transfer market has just closed but I want to keep as many options as I can open. As long as I’m here, I will give everything for the club. I’ve already done so, but I will do so even more.
“There are talks going on. I’m not saying I’m going to sign, I’m not saying I’m not going to sign. We will see.”
Tielemans sounds like a man biding his time, waiting to see what position Leicester find themselves in before making a decision that could come to define his top-flight career.
One would suspect Conference League clashes with the likes of Randers, Qarabag and Partizan Belgrade will not have him rushing to sign on the dotted line.
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