90min

Liverpool Target Ben Chilwell Unable to Agree Contract Extension With Leicester City

By Jude Summerfield

facebooktwitterreddit

​Liverpool will have to pay £10m in order to acquire Leicester City's fullback Ben Chilwell, according to reports.

A potential move to Merseyside had remained unlikely to happen, after​ the Telegraph  reported on Friday that Chilwell was close to agreeing a new deal to remain at the Premier League champions. 

However, according to ​reports, the two parties have not been able to strike an extension, so Leicester might have to accept the player is leaving. The Foxes previously rejected a deal worth £7m, but could now accept a transfer offer closer to the £10m mark.

Should the England U21 international make the move to Anfield, he is expected to compete with Spaniard Alberto Moreno in Jurgen Klopp's first full season in charge of Liverpool. 

The German manager, however, still seems unwilling to pay Leicester's asking price, considering that Chilwell is yet to play a Premier League game, and made just three first team appearances for the Foxes during the 2015-16 season.

Liverpool has been heavily linked with the 19-year-old throughout the summer, although his performances for the reserve and youth sides at Leicester has also seen him linked with Chelsea and Manchester City.

Chilwell was expected to sign a new contract worth £30k-a-week to challenge first-teamer Christian Fuchs for a starting position in Leicester's upcoming Premier League title defence.

Despite losing star midfielder N'Golo Kante to Premier League rivals Chelsea, Leicester have managed to keep striker Jamie Vardy and attacking midfielder Riyad Mahrez at the King Power stadium, despite intense transfer speculation regarding their futures, and they'll be eager to secure the services of the highly-rated Chilwell as they continue to build a squad for the future.

Liverpool have so far recruited Joel Matip, Loris Karius, Sadio Mane, Ragnar Klavan, Alex Manninger and more recently Georginio Wijnaldum, while Leicester have signed Ron-Robert Zieler, Luis Hernandez, Raul Uche, Nampalys Mendy and Ahmed Musa.