Several clubs from Ligue 1 are queuing up for the signature of Adrien Silva, according to French outlet Infofoot.
The Portuguese midfielder spent the second half of last season on loan at AS Monaco, with his performances helping the club stay in the French top-tier.
Leicestershire Live reports that Silva has returned to training in Leicester, but that he still would like another move away from the Premier League, preferably back to Monaco after enduring a tough time at King Power where he has made just 14 league appearances (as per Transfermarkt).
The original report suggests that Marseille, Bordeaux and Monaco are all interested in the defensive midfielder, but no offers are yet to come in for him.
Adrien Silva was born in France and actually played for Bordeaux when he was 10 years of age before he moved to Portugal, so he has history there and can speak the language.
It is no surprise that a host of big Ligue 1 clubs are interested in Adrien Silva, as his reputation across the continent is likely to exceed his reputation within England. For example, he notched up an impressive 168 games for Sporting in the Liga NOS, one of the biggest clubs in Portugal. However, failure to register in time for the Premier League in February 2018 meant he was unable to play for six months, and set the precedent for an unhappy time in the Midlands.
Leicester also have a lot of central midfielders, and only space for two or three in their starting XI based on their favoured 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 formations from last season, with the former having been used 18 times and the latter eight (via WhoScored).
With Nampalys Mendy (27), Wilfred Ndidi (22), Hamza Choudhury (21) and Daniel Amartey (24) all to call upon, Brendan Rodgers is hardly lacking options in the middle of the park.
Even if Silva impressed while at Monaco and was needed in that holding midfield position (as shown on WhoScored), his defensive stats don’t come close to someone like Ndidi, for example, who played every game in the league last year.
Ndidi had made more tackles per match (3.8 to 3.3), more interceptions per match (2.2 to 1.1), made less fouls per match (1.2 to 1.5), more clearances per match (2.1 to 1.5), let less dribbles past him per match (1.3 to 2.1) and made more blocks per match (0.2 to 0.1), according to WhoScored, proving that Leicester don’t need to be shifting their star 22-year-old out of the side to keep Silva happy.
It will surely be a case of when and not if as for whether Adrien Silva will be departing from the King Power this season.
He seems desperate for a transfer to take place, while Leicester already look sorted in the middle of the park, so you would suspect common sense will prevail and he will get his move to Ligue 1.
His previous quotes on how he “didn’t enjoy” his Leicester experience and how he’s never really recovered from the registration mishap (Leicestershire Live) speaks volumes of how he wants to move somewhere else, not just for himself but for his family.
Should the Portuguese have been given more of a chance at the King Power? Join the discussion by commenting below…
