Premier League Leicester City are scouting Championship hotshot Joel Piroe with the Swansea Independent suggesting that it would take a bid in the region of £10 million to lure him away from the Liberty Stadium.
Steve Cooper might not have been universally popular at Swansea City but even his most vocal of detractors would have to admit that the job he did last season deserves a lot of credit.
Cooper, now at Nottingham Forest, guided the Swans to the play-off final despite the fact that he didn’t really have an orthodox centre-forward at his disposal.
One wonders, then, if Swansea would be playing Premier League football right now if Joel Piroe had arrived 12 months earlier.
Because, since joining from PSV Eindhoven last summer, the 22-year-old Dutchman has been nothing short of a revelation.
A tally of 12 goals in just 22 games have raised hopes that Piroe could be the most prolific Swansea striker since Wilfried Bony all the way back in 2013/14.
Though whether he sticks around to build on his lightning start to life on Welsh soil remains to be seen.
The January transfer window is just a fortnight away. And, according to the Swansea Independent, there is now ‘huge interest’ from clubs in the division above.
Will Leicester sign Swansea City’s Joel Piroe?
John Rudkin, Leicester City’s Director of Football, has ‘endorsed’ the club’s pursuit of the former Netherlands U20 international. A winter bid is reportedly on the cards too.
What’s more, the Foxes are understood to have scouted Piroe on four separate occasions in recent weeks.
Leicester may have a decision to make about the future of 34-year-old Jamie Vardy at the end of this season. Some of their best performances have come with Patson Daka, the £23 million summer signing, leading the line instead.
Piroe would add further exuberance and potential to Brendan Rodgers’ attack.
“He is good technically and an excellent athlete,” Swansea manager Russel Martin said recently.
“So I am sure there is a lot more to come from him.”
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