Burnley have rejected Leicester's second bid for club captain James Tarkowski.
Jonny Evans has been injured for the start of the Premier League season and they no longer want to rely on a 36-year-old Wes Morgan at the back. Brendan Rodgers has even been forced to use midfielder Wilfred Ndidi at times to fill in and evidently short in the position – and the Nigerian has just been ruled out for the next 12 weeks.
Tarkowski, who has plenty of Premier League experience and two caps for England, has been identified as the ideal candidate to solve the club's defensive issues.
According to John Percy at the Telegraph, Leicester have had an offer worth more than £30m rejected but they are still optimistic that they can sign the English defender before the window closees.
Now that West Ham have had their best possible bid rejected and have seemingly been priced out of a move for Tarkowski, Leicester are the front runners in the race for his signature and are expected to launch a third attempt to secure his services.
Percy reports that there is a £50m release clause in his current contract but it only applies to Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool. However, the centre-half is keen on joining Brendan Rodgers' project at the King Power and believes it is his best chance of being recalled to the England squad. Percy believes Burnley could be willing to let him go for a bid in the region of £35-40m.
Tarkowski didn't feature for the Clarets in their midweek Carabao Cup fixture against Millwall due to a toe injury but Sean Dyche is planning to use him in Saturday night's clash against Southampton, regardless of the growing speculation surrounding his future.
“We might have James Tarkowski back again. I’m going to confirm that with him today. He’s got a chance", he told the club's wesbite.
Source: 90min
