Foxes slap whopping price tag on Schmeichel to fend off suitors

LONDON: Craig Shakespeare is ready to slap an eye-watering £50mil (RM273mil) price tag on Kasper Schmeichel as he attempts to scare off would be suitors Liverpool and Manchester United.

The world-breaking fee dwarfs the £30mil (RM164mil) Everton splashed out to sign Sunderland’s England Under-21 goalie Jordan Pickford 48 hours ago.

It would also smash the world record £34.9mil (RM190mil) Manchester City paid Benfica for Brazilian goalie Ederson and would make Schmeichel the most expensive goalie of all time.

Juergen Klopp and Jose Mourinho have been tracking the 30-year-old Dane for months and Leicester’s £2mil (RM11mil) pursuit of Hull stopper Eldin Jakupovic could be the first move in a giant goalkeeping jigsaw.

Shakespeare is prepared to meet Hull’s knockdown asking price for the 32-year-old Swiss international, who only has one year left on his contract.

Despite Hull insisting no bid has yet been made, Shakespeare views Jakupovic as the experienced backup he needs for Schmeichel.

The Dane has attracted many admirers with serious spending power and Shakespeare does not want to be caught out if a world record bid comes in over the summer.

Current back-up goalkeeper Ron Robert Zieler has failed to impress and is keen to return to his homeland – increasing Shakespeare’s need for reliable cover.

Schmeichel still has four years to run on his current five-year-deal, which is worth more than £100,000 (RM546,000) a week.

However he parted company with his old agent Kenny Stephen shortly after signing his new deal last summer and replaced him with Luca Bascherini – in a move which set alarm bells ringing.

The Foxes’ Thai owners were suspicious of their goalie’s motives for switching agents at a time when he had everything he could wish for at the club.

They were concerned Schmeichel was preparing the way for a speedy exit if one of Europe’s big-hitters came in for him.

And they grew even more uneasy when Schmeichel was then widely photographed with his dad Peter at Manchester United’s Europa League quarter final against Anderlecht at Old Trafford in April – something Shakespeare confessed his No. 1 hadn’t run by him. — The Sun, London