If Tielemans leaves, he could well end up regretting decision...
BELGIAN STAR OUGHT TO REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED TO SIMPSON AND DRINKWATER
ONE of the big talking points among Leicester City fans this summer is the future of midfielder Youri Tielemans.
The Belgian has been a key player for the club since arriving, initially on loan, from Monaco in 2019.
His performances have earned admiring glances from clubs across Europe – but it’s Arsenal who have been the most heavily linked with the player this summer.
The uncertainty over Tielemans’ future is because he has just 12 months left to run on his contract at the King Power Stadium.
City have been in talks with the player and his representatives for well over a year over a new deal, but he has not put pen to paper, meaning the player could be available for nothing next summer.
Despite all of the talk over Arsenal’s interest, the Gunners have yet to put in an official offer, with reports that they have been prioritising other moves.
Manchester United have also been credited with an interest as a contingency plan amid the saga surrounding Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
Reports suggest Tielemans is keen on a move to the Emirates Stadium this season, but the player has also spoken of his contentment to City in comments leading up to, and during, the summer transfer window.
“I feel very good at Leicester, I was welcomed with open arms from day one. I give everything for the club until the last day,” he said in his most recent comments about his future.
“You need to stay calm. I’m good where I am. I still have a year left on my contract. I’m not in a rush.
“When you change clubs, you don’t change just to change. You change because there is a great project on the table.” The midfielder could take recent comments from two former City players as a potential warning over opting for a move away from the
King Power Stadium this summer.
Earlier this week, a former team-mate of Tielemans, Danny Simpson, admitted his regret at leaving City at the end of his contract in the summer of 2019.
“I look back, and it wasn’t even just about playing, when you leave that club, you lose something, other clubs are not the same,” he told TalkSPORT.
“Yeah, (it’s a family), and that’s what I found, and you don’t realise how special the club was until you leave.”
While Simpson didn’t leave for a ‘big club,’ his comments could send a message to Tielemans who has thrived at City after a difficult time at Monaco.
The move to France from his first club Anderlecht was one big move in his career that did not work out for the midfielder.
One player who did make what could be seen as a big move is Danny Drinkwater.
The midfielder completed a £35 million transfer to Chelsea in 2017, but the move didn’t go as planned.
Drinkwater played a total of just 23 times for the Blues before being released as a free agent this summer.
In an interview with Sky Sports last week, the former City man said he asks himself what would have happened if he hadn’t taken the decision to leave the King Power Stadium.
Jamie Vardy is one City player who did turn down a big move after Arsenal triggered a release clause in his contract in 2016.
Instead of going to the Emirates Stadium, the striker signed a new long-term contract with City, and it’s a move that has worked out well for both parties.
Vardy has established himself as a player who will go down in the club’s history books, helping the club to continue to challenge the elite of the Premier League.
The striker has just celebrated a decade with the club and has scored a total of 164 goals in a City shirt.
All of this is not to say that a potential move to Arsenal, or Manchester United, may not work out for Tielemans.
But, having written himself into the history book with City with his FA Cup final goal, he should not rule out extending his stay at the club beyond his current contract.