Newcastle United have been handed a potential boost in their bid to bring Youri Tielemans to St James' Park on transfer deadline day.
What's the talk?
In recent comments cited by Newcastle World, Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers suggested that, with less than 24 hours remaining of the January transfer window, he is still unsure as to whether or not the 25-year-old midfielder will be at the King Power Stadium come Wednesday morning, with the Belgian having just six months to run on his contract with the Foxes.
This is likely to come as something of a boost to both Eddie Howe and Newcastle, as the Magpies have been continuously linked with a move for the former AS Monaco talent this winter - with Leicester believed to be willing to sanction the sale of the 58-cap international should they receive an offer in the region of £20m prior to this evening's transfer deadline.
Regarding the immediate future of Tielemans, Rodgers said: "I started this chat two years ago. I don't know what can happen. My focus is on who's here and we'll see what happens. He's only got a number of months left on his contract and this has been going on for two years. I'm not going to continue speculating. We'll see what happens."
Gallagher alternative
With it being clear that Howe is on the lookout for a new central midfielder over the remaining hours of the January transfer window, as evidenced by Newcastle's reported interest in a £45m move for Conor Gallagher, the argument that Tielemans would represent an unreal alternative to the Chelsea starlet for the Magpies this winter is an extremely easy one to make.
Indeed, over his four-year stay at the King Power, the £45m-rated playmaker has consistently been one of the Foxes' best performers in the top flight, averaging a Sofascore statistical rating of 7.00 or above in each of his five campaigns with the club, not to mention scoring 28 goals and providing a further 25 assists over his 184 appearances for Rodgers' side.
And, despite Leicester's struggles in the league so far this season, the £35k-per-week playmaker has still managed to impress over his 20 Premier League fixtures, scoring three goals, registering one assist and creating seven big chances for his teammates, in addition to taking an average of 1.2 shots, making 1.1 key passes and completing 0.6 dribbles per game.
The 25-year-old has also impressed in more workmanlike metrics, making an average of 2.1 tackles, 0.8 interceptions and winning 4.2 duels - at a success rate of 56% - per match, in addition to enjoying an average of 68.4 touches, finding his man with 2.6 long balls and completing 46 total passes - at a success rate of 85% - per outing.
These returns have seen the player who talkSPORT's Jack Johnson dubbed "unreal" average an astonishing Sofascore statistical rating of 7.17, not only ranking him as Leicester's second-best performer in the league but also as the joint 33rd-best player in the top flight as a whole - a quite incredible feat while playing for a club who sit just a point above the relegation zone.
As such, considering the fact that Tielemans is very much a proven top performer in the Premier League, coupled with the fact he looks to be available for around £25m less than both his current market valuation and Gallagher's asking price, it would indeed appear as if the Belgian would represent an unreal alternative to the Chelsea midfielder for the Magpies.