Fabrizio Romano drops claim on Leicester City player’s willingness to join Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest have submitted an opening proposal for Leicester City midfielder Wiflried Ndidi

HIGHLIGHTS

Nottingham Forest have presented an opening proposal to sign Wilfried Ndidi, and personal terms have been agreed as the player wants the move.
Leicester City may consider selling Ndidi as he has less than 12 months left on his contract and has shown no interest in negotiating a new deal.
The club has added depth to their midfield with new signings, giving them the freedom to potentially make money by selling Ndidi, who has seen a decline in his performance over the past year.
Nottingham Forest have presented an opening proposal for Leicester City midfielder Wilfried Ndidi.
The Nigerian international has emerged as a target for Forest over the last few days, and they’re now ready to make a move for the Championship midfielder.
Fabrizio Romano has reported that Nottingham have told Leicester about their proposal to sign the 26-year-old. He added that personal terms have been agreed and Ndidi wants the move.
The midfielder has featured in most of the Foxes’ games so far this season. Last night, in the EFL Cup, against Tranmere Rovers, he came off the bench at half-time, and put in a brilliant cameo performance, scoring a goal and assisting another.

Why would Leicester City sell Wilfried Ndidi?
The 26-year-old has less than 12 months left on his current deal with Leicester, and there has been no indication that he intends to negotiate a new deal with the club.
He has played in all of Leicester’s Championship games this year. But he’s only averaging 57 minutes a game in the league, so he isn’t as integral to the team as he has been over previous years. For example, in the 2021/22 Premier League season, he averaged 85 minutes per game.

The club have also added depth to their midfield, alongside Ndidi. They’ve recently acquired Cesare Casadei on a season-long loan from Chelsea. They were also able to bring in the vastly experienced Premier League midfielder Harry Winks for a £10 million fee, according to talkSPORT.

These additions, alongside those who were already there, like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Boubakary Soumare, and Dennis Praet, mean that Leicester have the freedom and depth to make some money by selling Ndidi.

What would Leicester lose if they sell Ndidi?

He is a player who can anchor the midfield as well as many, when healthy.
His fitness hasn’t been as bad over the last year. But prior to then, he missed over 40 games for club and country due to injury, from September 2020 to the end of the 2021-22 season.
Last season, he made 2.3 tackles and 1.4 interceptions per game. Those are massively down from the 3.7 tackles and 2.3 interceptions per game, in the 2020/21 season. Even in the season after that, his numbers didn’t dip down to the levels of last season.

He was also being dribbled past once per game last year, as well as conceding two penalties and making two errors that directly led to a goal.
His recent performances don’t show the player that was previously there. Going down to the Championship seemed like it could be a good place for him to find his feet again and get his side back up to the Premier League. But, at Forest, he may not be relied upon as much to be the driving force in the midfield.

It would be a sad loss for fans of the Foxes, as he has been a brilliant player for them. But he doesn’t appear to be at that level anymore, and cashing in could be the smart thing to do.