A familiar, defiant warning continues to be sent out by those in charge at Leicester City this summer as clubs circle to try and steal their brightest talent before the end of the month. The Foxes insist both James Maddison and Wesley Fofana won't be sold despite being heavily linked with Newcastle United and Chelsea respectively.
The duo both featured in the 2-2 draw with Brentford on Sunday, as Maddison put in a Man of the Match performance despite Brendan Rodgers' side surrendering a two-goal advantage at the King Power Stadium. Newcastle are considering launching a third bid for the attacking midfielder in the coming days.
Leicester are no strangers when it comes to losing big-name players, including the likes of Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell and N'Golo Kante in years gone by. And the former Premier League champions' initial stance to those outgoings gives the Magpies hope this summer.
The reason Leicester are batting away offers of £70m from Chelsea for Fofana's signature is because the precedent was set years ago by Manchester United. With the Red Devils paying £80m for Maguire, Rodgers is determined he won't lose another highly-rated defender for anything less.
Of course, Leicester did initially state that Maguire was not for sale just weeks before he left for Old Trafford in 2019. "We're very relaxed," Rodgers said back then. "The clubs that have spoken to Leicester have not met any valuation that the club has put on him, so at this moment in time he's very much a Leicester player, and you can see where his concentration is, and it's very much here."
Chilwell was another player Rodgers tried desperately to keep. Eventually the lure of Chelsea proved too strong but Leicester's boss again insisted the left-back would be staying just days before he made the move to the capital.
“He’s a Leicester player, he’s not a player that I’m worried about at all” Rodgers told reporters in 2020. “We’ve got a fantastic squad, one that we want to keep together. There’s no intention for us to sell Chilwell and we don’t need to sell Chilwell. He’s not for sale.”
Then there is N'Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez. Both absolutely instrumental in Leicester's historic title win but always susceptible to bigger and better offers elsewhere. In 2016, club chief Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha was adamant neither player would depart.
Days later Kante joined Chelsea and 12 months down the line, after essentially going on strike Mahrez moved to Manchester City. “We are not a team who produces players to be developed later by other teams,” Srivaddhanaprabha said. “All players want to stay and keep on fighting together to see how far they can go. So selling players is not on our agenda.”
Newcastle look set to test Leicester's resolve once again with another Maddison offer in the coming weeks. They made need the former Norwich man to demand a move to get Leicester to soften their stance - but the Magpies shouldn't be put off just because Rodgers has publicly backed the 25-year-old to stay.
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