Leicester City Looking for Fuchs Replacement?
Christian Fuchs just signed a contract with Premier League champs Leicester City foxes which keeps him with the club until 2019, but that has not stopped Claudio Ranieri from looking for his long term replacement. According to the Daily Mirror, last year's Premier League champs sent a scout to the Leeds vs Norwich game to scout 23-year-old full-back Charlie Taylor. Unfortunately for Leicester City, Leeds boss Garry Monk had Taylor on the bench, as he was playing around with his squad. Regardless, it seems the club have a vested interest in Taylor. Charlie Taylor has reportedly turned down a contract with Leeds and is available on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Charlie Taylor in a Leicester City shirt would be a good move the Foxes. He is an excellent fullback, but it will be interesting to see where he would play in the defense. Fuchs is 30 years old, and only has so many years left in him to perform top quality football for Leicester City. Also, he has openly come out and said that he plans on playing in the MLS. He has a house in New York, and his original plan was to play out his contract and move state-side when it was finished. Since then, he has signed an extension and has at least three more seasons with the club. Be it when his contract runs out, or on a transfer, Fuchs will play in the MLS and more than likely be on either NYCFC or New York Red Bulls. So a replacement for him is necessary. Danny Simpson, in my eyes, is one of the unsung heroes for the Foxes defense. He is very underrated, and I do not think that he will be losing his starting spot anytime soon. Charlie Taylor would probably be Fuchs backup. But that brings up the question; what about Ben Chilwell and Jeff Schlupp? Both are young and very talented, but they have Fuchs and each other in the way of constant minutes. Schlupp is versatile -he can/has played at left mid before- so maybe Claudio Ranieri is planning on moving Schlupp there? But that brings up another problem; are you going to cut into Marc Albrighton's game time? And what about Demarai Gray? He's young and full of talent too. Chilwell hasn't been given a good enough shot to show what he's got in the BPL, but I think he still needs some time to see action constantly.
Bringing in Charlie Taylor would present Leicester City with a problem, but a good one at that. The Foxes would be "forced" into selling..someone to make room for Taylor as their eventual first choice left back. If the move happened right now, Jeff Schlupp's price on his head is nothing south of €8 million(per transfermarkt.com), and I believe that once you factor in his age and his potential to be a really solid player, he can be sold anywhere around €15 million. Chilwell is a lot younger(he's 19) but already his price tag is €2.5 mill. Clubs can be convinced to buy him anywhere in the range of €5-€7 million. Let's say for some reason LCFC decide to sell both of the players, they can get a haul of anywhere from €10.5-€22 million back for the two players. It will be interesting to see what the Foxes are going to do.
