James Maddison Leicester City
Jonny Evans believes Leicester City teammate Harvey Barnes has proved himself to be a key player for the Foxes. Barnes spent the first half of last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion, where his form saw him recalled to the King Power Stadium for the second half of the campaign.
Jonny Evans said “He’s got fantastic speed and power when he’s breaking, He’s been a real threat for us since he came back from his loan. It’s good to see him on the scoresheet as well because it’s always good to be rewarded with your performances. I think he’s got great attributes and you see that every time he plays, When we’re having to defend, he can hit teams on the break, that’s a real strength of his. When Vards (Jamie Vardy) is on the pitch also, the two of them link up quite well on the counter attack. He’s definitely got the attributes, and it’s good he’s getting the goals as a reward for that. It makes people sit up and take notice.”
The 22-year-old has made 32 appearances for Brendan Rodgers’ side this term, scoring seven goals including a brace in Monday’s 4-0 win over Aston Villa. Barnes spent the first half of last season on loan at West Bromwich Albion, where his form saw him recalled to the King Power Stadium for the second half of the campaign.
Brendan Rodgers said “Each year you want to improve, There’s no doubt that’s what our aim would be.By the end of the season, we’ll have been working with virtually the same squad for near-on 18 months, so you need to refresh it, you need to keep looking to raise the bar. That sort of plan is under way. I think the key now is to finish the job and give everything to get to where we want to be at the end of the season, and then we can look at that.”
Four players have arrived on permanent deals since Rodgers took charge: James Justin, Ayoze Perez, Dennis Praet, and Youri Tielemans.
James Maddison doesn’t need to look like Adama Traore but he does need to build his strength to reach the very highest level, Brendan Rodgers has said. Rodgers is pleased, although he is not expecting the 23-year-old to bulk up like Wolves winger Traore, whose power, pace and skill has made him a difficult opponent to stop this season.
Brendan Rodgers said “He’s doing that for himself, You have to have a physicality. The strength is not always about how you look, you don’t need to look like the boy Adama to be strong. But you have to have a certain physicality and a stamina at the very highest level and that’s something all the players are aware of and that we’ve always spoken about. You have to have a high fitness level. He’s the type of young boy who loves football, He’s not one of those that as soon as it’s finished, he goes in. He loves the game, he loves practicing, he loves talking about football. The session finishes and he’s out doing extra finishing exercises and extra bits of work. He’s on a great learning curve at the highest level of the game, and he’s a boy who wants to get to the very highest level. He’s made such a rapid rise from League One to the Premier League and he’s constantly developing.”
After a bright start to the season Maddison’s form has tailed off since the turn of the year and Rodgers was adamant that he had no concerns about the dip in form of the talented midfielder and backed him to return to his best sooner rather than later.
Leicester City head of recruitment Lee Congerton described goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir as being ‘one of the best’ he has ever seen in his life suggesting that the club may be interested in the Trabzonspor keeper.
Lee Congerton said “One of the best goalkeepers I have seen in my life. I was wondering who the goalkeeper was that Liverpool offered £22 million (for). But now i can safely say that the price that they have offered is going to be a bargain.”
Cakir has made the second-highest number of saves (79) of any goalkeeper in the Turkish Super Lig this season, with his fine form helping Trabzonspor to joint-second in the table, just three points behind leaders Istanbul Basaksehir with a game in hand. A number of English Premier League clubs have been looking at the player and that includes Leicester who would be looking to find the successor to Kasper Schmeichel.
