Brendan Rodgers has revealed what the action will be from Leicester in the January transfer window regarding out of contract players. The Foxes have seven players with expiring deals in June 2023 and one of them is of extreme interest to Arsenal.
Youri Tielemans was one of the Gunners' biggest summer targets and had speculation surrounding him after being dropped from the side at the start of the season. Edu was always keen to bring in a new midfielder to offer support to Thomas Partey in the centre of the park but nothing was sorted.
That only played into Arsenal's hands for the future, though, with Tielemans' value depreciating the closer he gets to his contract expiring. Tielemans himself is helped by this, but Rodgers was bullish when asked if he had rejected a new deal last summer.
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"He hasn't declined," he explained. "For me, his position is exactly the same as what it was. He's a fantastic player, and there's been no movement whatsoever. He's a player who has continued to work and is working well. Until the last day he's here, whether that's at the end of the contract or summer or beyond that, he will always give his best because he's a top professional, and he showed his commitment today. There's interest trying to be generated by other people."
That stance may well have to be softened though with just six months left to go. He can now negotiate a pre-contract with a club from abroad ahead of a potential summer move away, and Rodgers was asked again about the status of the other players that are all in the same boat. With this being the last chance to salvage and money before they walk away for free Rodgers said: "Well, some of that would be a club discussion really [selling players this month.]
"I think that if someone doesn’t want to be here or someone wants too much money to be here, we have to be brave enough to say 'listen, thank you very much and on you go', because we are not a club with masses of resources that can facilitate every single player's need, especially from a financial side.
"A number of these guys are down to their last year. We said before we'd like them to stay but there has to be a point in time when what they want is too demanding for us as a club and if the time is right, they have to move on, then we have to do that and then look forward."
Arsenal turned their attention towards Aston Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz during the summer after it became apparent that Tielemans wasn't going to be moving but the Belgian remains a target in the new year. Rodgers' words may also open up the chance of picking him up before the end of his deal in order to strike whilst the iron is hot, taking advantage of the title challenge and strengthening Arteta's options.
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