Leicester City could sign Irish centre-back Ryan Nolan on a free transfer this summer with the one-time Inter Milan youngster potentially heading to England, according to The Sun (18 August, page 50).
As Philippe Coutinho, Kieran Tierney, Odsonne Edouard, Raheem Sterling and Moussa Dembele will tell you, Brendan Rodgers is a coach with a superb track record when it comes to helping young talents realise their potential.
So maybe he is the man to finally get the best out of a 21-year-old defender who has slipped down the divisions since captaining Inter Milan’s Primavera side.
Nolan failed to make the grade at the San Siro and joined Serie C outfit Arezzo in search of regular first-team football last year.
Just six months and eight games later, however, the Shannon-born powerhouse was on the move again, joining third-tier rivals Giana Erminio on loan.
Clearly, this is a man in need of a place he can call home. And, according to The Sun, Leicester are willing to take a punt.
Arezzo will even let Nolan leave on a free transfer, as long as The Foxes agree to include a sell-on clause in his contract. This, then, is about as low-risk a signing as it is possible to come across.
The former Ireland U18 international will have a mountain to climb if he wants to break up the impressive Jonny Evans-Caglar Soyuncu partnership, however – though while Leicester are not short of quality centre-halves, quantity is an issue.
Captain Wes Morgan is 36 now and an experienced back-up at best, while Filip Benkovic has not made a single Premier League appearance in two years.
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