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Leicester City could make January transfer U-Turn on £23m star: View
Patson Daka’s Leicester City career looked to be over until recent performances for Enzo Maresca’s side.
After failing to make the move away from the King Power Stadium during the summer, the forward hasn’t featured regularly under Enzo Maresca so far, but started the last three games in the absence of Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho.
The former RB Salzburg forward came to the club as a highly-rated player and would have hoped to have secured a decent amount of game time in the Midlands following his side’s relegation to the Championship.
He made a cameo appearance against Sunderland and in an EFL Cup clash with Liverpool, but has largely been left on the bench or out of matchday squads entirely, so it has been quite the turnaround in recent games.
But with Iheanacho and Vardy missing through an illness and injury, it was down to Daka as a starter and Tom Cannon as a substitute to step up in their places.
Premier League interest in Patson Daka
Daka has been heavily linked with a move away from the King Power Stadium for months, with Bournemouth failing to get a deal over the line at the end of the summer window. Elsewhere, it seemed that Brentford were lining up the Zambia international as their Ivan Toney replacement.
According to Sky Sports in Italy, via Milan News, there was an agreement between Leicester and AC Milan to send centre-forward to the San Siro on deadline day, but for whatever reason the proposed move broke down.
Daka was also linked with the likes of Everton and Monaco, and interest is likely to remain in January when considering his place in Leicester’s pecking order. Many perhaps thought Daka’s career in Leicester was over, having witnessed his game time at the club become practically non-existent.
The 25-year-old signed for Leicester from RB Salzburg in 2021, for a reported fee of £23m and looked to be an incredibly exciting signing at the time. The striker bagged just 15 goals and eight assists in 74 games for the Foxes prior to this season.
But the Zambian international scored prolifically prior to joining Leicester, notching 61 times in 87 games in the Austrian Bundesliga and is simply one of the most talented forwards in the division. He always had it in him to potentially explode this season under Maresca, and we are now seeing that come to fruition.
There are a couple of factors working against Vardy and Iheanacho which could help make his case for a starting berth long-term as well. Vardy is certainly not getting any younger and isn’t one for the future anymore, whilst Iheanacho’s contract runs out in 2024.
His resurgence probably warrants keeping him around for longer, even though many at the club were perhaps willing to cut their losses next month. The goal and assist against Plymouth Argyle, the goal against Millwall, and his general performance level have given something for Maresca and the Leicester hierarchy to think about.
The club should be minded to keep him for what will be a challenging second half of the season, and Maresca will inevitably need to utilise his deep squad during the run-in. His side boast one of the most impressive pools of attacking options in the league, and Daka is certainly a contributor to that.
