Leicester City Opinion: Foxes should sign Lewis Dunk as a like-for-like replacement for Maguire
According to Leicestershire Live, Leicester City are weighing up an audacious £40 million swoop on Brighton and Hove Albion for England international centre-back Lewis Dunk this summer.
Leicestershire Live understands that Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers is keen to bring the 27-year-old to the King Power Stadium as an alternative to Harry Maguire, who has been heavily linked with an £85 million move to either Man City or Man United.
The move, if it materializes, would see Leicester City smash their club-record transfer fee, eclipsing the £30 million that they forked out to bring Islam Slimani to the club back in 2016.
Question marks continue to linger over the future of Maguire and it is understood that the Foxes would be willing to part ways with their prized asset if their massive asking price is met. Leicester are under no pressure to sell, though, given that Maguire is under contract until the summer of 2023.
Lewis Dunk rose through the youth ranks at Brighton and has been an integral part of the Seagulls journey through the divisions over the years, playing a key role in their promotion from League One to the Championship, and eventually to the Premier League. The 27-year-old has successfully made the step up to the top-flight since Brighton’s promotion in 2017, establishing himself as one of the best centre-backs outside the top-six.
Dunk’s consistently impressive displays at the heart of the defence didn’t go unnoticed and he was handed his senior England debut in a friendly against the United States last year. The 27-year-old’s stocks have soared higher than before even since his international debut and a move to a bigger club remains very much on the cards for the towering centre-back.
Standing at 6ft. 4 inches with a towering and well-built frame, Dunk is a centre-back tailor-made for the English game. He is quite fast and agile for a player of his stature and it would be fair to say that Dunk combines the virtues of a traditional old-school English centre-back and the ball-playing qualities of a modern-day defender.
Blessed with wonderful physical attributes and exceptional aerial prowess, Dunk is more than capable of stamping his authority over his counterparts with his physicality, whilst also possessing the game-reading ability to deal with aerial balls played into the area from set-pieces and crosses.
A tough-tackling defender, he is strong and fearless on the tackle but he prefers to stay on his feet and gets his body on the line more often than not to block goal-bound attempts.
Calm and comfortable in possession, the 27-year-old boasts of a good range of passing, which not only allows him to play the ball out comfortably from the back but also switch the play and set up attacks from the back with precise long balls.
To put things into perspective, Dunk has a wealth of experience of playing in the different divisions of English football, having accumulated a total of 270 appearances for the Seagulls in all competitions. The 27-year-old shares a lot of similar traits with Harry Maguire and Leicester have every reason to look at him as an ideal replacement should their talisman depart for a bigger club this summer.
The Foxes currently do not have a centre-back in their ranks who can replace a player of Maguire’s calibre. They have the likes of Wes Morgan, Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu in the squad, while Filip Benkovic is also expected to be available for selection after enjoying a fruitful loan spell at Celtic.
Morgan and Evans are very much nearing their swansong while Benkovic and Soyuncu are inexperienced at the highest level and yet to establish themselves as top-quality defenders.
To Read More Leicester City News, Click Here:- Latest Leicester City News
Dunk fits the bill perfectly as a like-for-like replacement for Maguire, although the mooted £40 million price tag might be an issue for the Foxes. All in all, he is a top-quality centre-back in his prime and Leicester should not hesitate to get him on board this summer, even if they have to pay over the odds to do so.
