Leicester City linked with impressive Serie A midfield ace: What will he add to the team?

Leicester City have developed a huge interest in signing Sampdoria midfielder Dennis Praet who still has two more years left on his contract with the Serie A club.

According to Sky Sports, the Foxes have outstripped fellow Premier League club Arsenal in their pursuit for the Belgian International.

However, Leicester will face stiff competition from the north London club, Valencia and AC Milan, the report adds.

The 25-year-old, who was considered too weak at one time by the Gunners, scored two goals and provided three assists in 37 appearances across all competitions last campaign.

What will he add to the team?

Praet primarily features as a central-midfielder who plies his trade on the right side of the four-man diamond under Sampdoria boss Marco Giampaolo.

He also possesses the versatility to ease into an attacking midfield role higher up the pitch in case the manager requires him to.

The Belgian International’s style of play has changed drastically over the years. Lately, he has been garnering accolades for his off the ball movement as compared to his ball-playing abilities in his younger days.

The 25-year-old is a box to box midfielder and uses his 5ft 9in frame to impose his authority in the centre of the pitch. His defensive contribution has been one of the main talking points of the midfielder’s style of play.

Praet averaged 1.9 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per 90 minutes across all competitions last term. The numbers remain impressive seeing the Sampdoria midfielder handles his business mostly in the opposition half.

Apart from his physical prowess, he also boasts a whole range of passing skills under his belt, with one of his specialities being delivering accurate long balls.

Praet averaged a pass success rate of 87.3%, 1.1 key passes and 1.3 long balls per game across all competitions.

For a box to box midfielder, his finishing has been poor though and he hasn’t been clinical enough in the final third of the pitch averaging only a single shot per game last term across all competitions.

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers, who likes to play a possession-based attacking style of football, is tactically nuanced in his approach to adapt to the situation.

The former Liverpool manager is flexible enough to take a pragmatic approach and with the quality options at his disposal in Harvey Barnes, James Maddison and Demarai Gray, the addition of Praet sounds like a fruitful one.

Praet, who brings quality and flexibility, sounds like a good acquisition seeing he would bring a new dimension to the midfield at King Power Stadium resulting in more tactical options for the 46-year-old Irish manager.

Stat Courtesy: Transfermarkt, Whoscored