Leicester to step up chase for Robbie

LEICESTER CITY will intensify their €15million pursuit of Robbie Brady once Ireland Euro 2016 odyssey comes to end.

Claudio Ranieri is prepared to meet the valuation placed on the Irish international by his relegated club Norwich City and also double his starting salary to €60,000 per week on a four-year contract.

Although Everton are the latest suitor to join the hunt for Ireland’s match-winner against Italy on Wednesday, it’s understood the guarantee of UEFA Champions League football will sway Brady towards the Premier League champions.

Ranieri (below) had originally identified Brady to challenge 30-year-old Christian Fuchs for the left-back spot, especially as teenage full-back Ben Chilwell has failed to agree terms on a new contract amid some growing interest from Liverpool and Arsenal.

The Dubliner’s performances in France, however, have convinced Foxes chiefs to add Brady more as an attacking option for their attempts to build on last season’s historic feat.

Brady is set to depart Carrow Road just 12 months after joining the Canaries for €10million. His former club, Hull City, want him to rejoin their ranks, having earned promotion at the first attempt, while West Bromwich Albion and Bournemouth are also keen.

At 24, though, Brady is finally ready to move up a level to a club capable of at least challenging on a regular basis for the top-six in the Premier League.

He’ll become the first Irish player for five years to represent an English club in the group stages of the Champions League since John O’Shea departed company with Manchester United.

Brady’s initial plan of progressing at United didn’t materialise when Alex Ferguson, in one of his last pieces of transfer business before retiring, sold him to Hull for €2million in January 2013.

Ferguson did so on the basis of splashing out €15million on a winger, Wilfried Zaha, who he felt could contribute more at Old Trafford but he returned to Crystal Palace in early 2015 with only one start to show from his time at the Old Trafford club.

Brady is now hitting the prime of his career and determined to capitalise on the key role he’s played in both helping Ireland reach the European Championships and advance into today’s last-16 clash against tournament hosts, France.