Leicester City Opinion: James Tarkowski would be the ideal replacement for Harry Maguire
According to Daily Mail, Leicester City have lined up Burnley’s James Tarkowski as a potential replacement for star man Harry Maguire, who is expected to head for the exit door at the King Power Stadium this summer.
Maguire is likely to be a man in demand in the summer transfer window, with Premier League giants Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Spurs all interested in securing the services of the £60 million-rated England international. (h/t Sun)
While the 26-year-old’s metaphoric rise in English football is set to trigger a bidding war amongst several top clubs, the Foxes seem almost resigned to losing their No.1 centre-back before the start of the next campaign and have already started planning for life without him.
Manager Brendan Rodgers has requested Maguire to stay at Leicester with a promise that he would help him take his game to greater heights, the Daily Mail understands. However, he is almost certain to leave the club and the Foxes believe James Tarkowski is the perfect man to fill in his boots.
Tarkowski once again proved his worth as a top-class defender at Burnley this season, with the 26-year-old playing a key role in steering the Clarets to safety in the Premier League following a disappointing start to the campaign.
Along with Ben Mee, Tarkowski was one of the standout performers for Sean Dyche’s side this term and made a total of 35 appearances in the Premier League, scoring on 3 occasions.
The 2-cap England international made his move to Turf Moor from fellow Championship club Brentford back in February 2016 and initially struggled for a place in the first team, with Dyche preferring Michael Keane at centre-back.
Following Keane’s departure to Everton, Tarkowski made the centre-back role his own and established himself as the first-choice last season, helping the Clarets make a return to the European stage after a long absence of 51 years with a string of solid performances at the back.
The 26-year-old has made a total of 103 appearances for Burnley in all competitions till date and also featured in their Europa League campaign last summer which ended prematurely in the qualifying stages.
To put things into perspective, Tarkowski looks like an ideal like-for-like replacement for Harry Maguire and Leicester City should go all out to sign him if the latter leaves for another club this summer. Both Tarkowski and Maguire are 26 and the Burnley man would probably be Leicester’s best bet to fill in the shoes of their star man.
Standing at 6ft. 1 inch, Tarkowski is a couple of inches shorter than Maguire but that doesn’t prevent him from stamping his authority inside the box with his supreme aerial ability. As a matter of fact, Tarkowski has averaged 4.8 aerial duels per game this season as compared to Maguire’s 3.8.
The Burnley man has also edged Maguire out in terms of the number of tackles and interceptions won per game. Maguire averages 1 tackle and 1.2 interceptions per game while Tarkowski 2 tackles and 1.2 interceptions, figures which show that the latter has outperformed his more highly-rated compatriot.
Also, Tarkowski has affected 6.7 clearances per game as compared to Maguire’s average of 4.9, which is largely down to the fact that Burnley have often sat back too deep inside their own half.
In all honesty, there is not a lot to choose between the two centre-backs and it might sound a bit harsh but Maguire is a bit overrated. The Foxes would be under pressure to sign a replacement should Maguire depart given that they have some ageing centre-backs in Wes Morgan and Jonny Evans.
Filip Benkovic has enjoyed a fruitful loan spell at Celtic and Rodgers might be keen to use his former player at his parent club but someone like Tarkowski would be an upgrade on all of them any day.
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Looking at things from the Tarkowski’s perspective, a move to Leicester City would be the next big step in his career and he would be in a better position to challenge for a place in the England team. Leicester, under Brendan Rodgers, are a club with high ambitions, possibly a return to Europe and Tarkowski should relish the new challenge.
