Southampton are expecting to sell Jannik Vestergaard this summer amid interest from Leicester City, with the Mail reporting that Mohammed Salisu is closing in on a move to St Mary’s.
While the South Coast club refused to sell a giant centre-back to a Premier League rival during the January transfer window, things could be very different now.
Six months ago, the Saints were mired in a relegation battle and, with Leicester only expressing their interest in Vestergaard towards the end of the month, there was very little time to find a replacement.
An agreement, then, always felt unlikely.
Flash forward to the present day, however, and there is little stopping the former Borussia Monchengladbach powerhouse from swapping St Mary’s for the King Power now.
Especially given that Southampton are set to enhance Ralph Hasenhuttl’s defensive ranks with the £10 million signing of Real Valladolid youngster Salisu – a 20-year-old Ghanaian who looks far better suited to the Austrian’s Liverpool-lite style.
Vestergaard, who joined Mark Hughes’ Southampton in an £18 million deal two years ago (Sky), has fallen out of favour since an ex-RB Leipzig boss took charge.
He has started just one of Southampton’s last seven Premier League fixtures and just 14 in 2019/20.
Nevertheless, The Mail suggests that Leicester are still interested in the 6ft 6ins man-mountain.
And this should come as no surprise, after the usually reliable Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu conspired to gift Bournemouth one of the most baffling 4-1 triumphs in modern English football history.
Furthermore, with Leicester needing to balance domestic and European football in 2020/21, Brendan Rodgers could do with some added depth at the heart of a rather lightweight backline.
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