Leicester City are close to signing Monaco attacking midfielder Youri Tielemans ahead of the transfer deadline.
The Belgian has been linked with a move away from Monaco and according to Sky Sports News, Tielemans has completed his medical with Leicester.
It looks like Tielemans will join Leicester on a loan deal while Adrien Silva will move to Monaco.
The 21-year old had a bit of a rough patch at Monaco as the side have struggled for any sort of winning form despite changing managers twice.
Leicester have been pretty inconsistent themselves, as they have beaten the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea but have lost to Cardiff City and Newport County as well.
? – There he goes!
Youri Tielemans has completed a #DeadlineDay medical with @LCFC, Sky Sports News understands. ✅?
Follow all the latest developments here: https://t.co/iCSjYRB2IC pic.twitter.com/FVfMpppipg
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 31, 2019
The move for Tielemans is a wise one and here’s why.
A midfielder who will add more spark to Leicester
Tielemans was regarded highly during his spell with Anderlecht and it’s a bit surprising that Monaco are letting him leave on loan.
The 21-year old scored five goals in Ligue 1 this season and was one of the best players in a struggling Monaco side.
Though Tielemans has received criticism for his inconsistency, playing with a bunch of players who have underperformed means he can’t really be blamed much for some subpar displays.
Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim wants a more defensive-minded midfielder and sees Silva as a good fit according to HLN journalist Kristof Terreur.
Tielemans has always been a technically gifted midfielder and likes driving forward from the central midfield position. The Belgian international is versatile enough to play in a central midfield position, alongside a more defensive minded midfield of course, and as an attacking midfielder.
It’ll be intriguing to see where Claude Puel plays Tielemans, but considering his ability, the best position to deploy him would be alongside Wilfried Ndidi.
Puel likes using the 4-2-3-1 system and is a pragmatic manager, so the presence of Tielemans in central midfield and James Maddison in a number 10 role would make Leicester a pretty good unit on the break.
Tielemans averaged one key pass a game for Leicester and also showed his mettle in the central midfield role as he mustered 2.3 tackles a game.
It’s pretty smart of Leicester to sign Tielemans considering they are getting a player with a lot of ability for someone like Silva who wasn’t even featuring regularly for the side.
Stats via Whoscored