CHELSEA have been joined by Leicester in the battle for highly rated Jonathan Ikone, according to reports.
Ligue 1 side Lille are braced to lose their midfielder with two Premier League heavyweights circling.
The French club have already lost Victor Osimhen to Napoli and appear on the brink of seeing Gabriel Magalhaes join Arsenal.
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Now Ikone could be the latest player to depart.
Le10 Sport say Lille will not force Ikone’s hand though and instead listen to what the player wants to do.
His options are to either leave now or stay for another year.
It will be a tough decision for the 22-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain star.
Especially given Inter Milan – who could lose Antonio Conte as boss – are another club said to be looking for a deal.
Frenchman Ikone scored three goals and provided six assists in 28 Ligue 1 appearances last season.
He has four caps for France having made his debut in September last year.
According to transfermarkt.co.uk, Ikone has a market value of around £32million.
Were Brendan Rodgers to sign him for that much then Ikone would become the club’s second-most expensive signing ever, some £8m short of Youri Tielemens’ record.
That £32m figure would be more palatable to Chelsea, who were recently given the green light by Roman Abramovich to spend £150m on Declan Rice, Kai Havertz and Leicester’s Ben Chilwell.
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