According to a recent report from The Sunday Mirror (via The Daily Record), Leicester City are one side keeping tabs on defender David Bates. The 22-year-old currently plays his football at Bundesliga 2 outfit Hamburg having made the move there from Scottish giants Rangers during the summer, with the centre back certainly producing the goods in the early phase of his career in Germany.

And Claude Puel’s Leicester are one side reportedly keen on the £810,000-rated ace (as per Transfermarkt) as they seek further defensive reinforcements, but given the amount of options already at the Frenchman’s disposal in that area of the pitch, Foxes interest in Bates makes absolutely no sense at all.

The Breakdown

Ultimately, Puel set about strengthening his Leicester rearguard during the summer given the departure of centre back Robert Huth, while the interest surrounding Harry Maguire’s future suggested that he was another who could have left the King Power Stadium.

He didn’t, but Puel continued to add to his defensive options in luring Jonny Evans away from relegated West Brom, while the young duo of Filip Benkovic and Caglar Soyuncu also made the move to the Midlands outfit - add in captain Wes Morgan as well as Christian Fuchs, who can also play centre back, and Leicester are very well catered for in that department.

Yes, the likes of Morgan and Fuchs may well be entering the twilight of their careers, and Evans will turn 31 in January, but messrs Benkovic and Soyuncu are 21 and 22 years of age respectively to suggest that Puel wasn’t just thinking about the present, but also the future - and retaining Maguire is also a nod to both.

Thus, it’s difficult to see why the Leicester boss would be interested in another centre back given the vast array of options already at his disposal - Benkovic may well be on loan at Celtic, but he is sure to become part of Puel’s plans in the coming years.

Yes, Bates deserves credit for starting life in Hamburg well in helping the club keep four clean sheets in his eight Bundesliga 2 appearances, and he could well become an accomplished Premier League defender in time - but those opportunities don’t appear overly likely at Leicester.

In fact, such are the plethora of options currently available to Puel in the centre back ranks, their reported interest in the former Rangers defender makes absolutely no sense at all.

Leicester fans… what do you think? Let us know!