Leicester City’s pursuit of Turkish international Yunus Akgun has been put on hold after Galatasaray added the attacker to their Champions League squad for their play-off first leg against Molde later tonight.
It was reported earlier this week that a deal had been agreed that would see the 23-year-old head to the King Power Stadium on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy. This would see Leicester shell out around €10 million to the Turkish giants next summer ahead of a four-year deal.
However, injury to summer signing Wilfried Zaha has temporarily scuppered those plans and the versatile winger will now join up with his parent club tonight as they look to move a step closer to a spot in the Champions League Group Stages.
The former Crystal Palace man is expected to be fit for the second leg next Tuesday, but Turkish News claim that he could remain at Galatasaray until the end of next week as he wants the strongest squad available at his disposal in order to secure progression in the tournament.
This is undoubtedly a blow to Leicester City, who are already short on attacking options and they are expected to lose both Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho before the transfer window slams shut on September 1st.
Akgun’s move to the Championship club is still expected to go through before the end of the window, although it could now go down to the wire.
Writer’s View
Leicester’s were first credited with interest in the attacker earlier this month and Enzo Maresca would have been hoping to have his man through the door by now ahead of the trip to Rotherham United this weekend. Things move fast in football though, and there is no doubt that the manager would have prepared for the fixture without the player.
The Foxes remain desperate for attacking reinforcements and they will no doubt have backup options in mind should Galatasaray pull the plug, but time is fast running out. The imminent departures of both Daka and Iheanacho won’t help, and the 2016 Premier League champions could be in for a busy few days in the transfer market.
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