La Liga giants Barcelona are keeping tabs on Wilfred Ndidi’s situation at Leicester City as the Catalan club prepare to make a free transfer swoop, according to Sport.
Ndidi is having an excellent season so far under Enzo Maresca despite the Foxes losing numerous key players during the summer window following relegation from the Premier League, including the likes of Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Timothy Castagne and Caglar Soyuncu.
There were reports during the recently closed transfer window that the Nigeria international was set to follow suit. German outlet Kicker reported that Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich were keen to secure Ndidi’s services.
TalkSPORT also revealed that Premier League side Nottingham Forest were looking to bring the 26-year-old to the City Ground just a few days before deadline day but opted to sign PSV Eindhoven’s Ibrahim Sangare instead.
Nevertheless, Ndidi condemned the rumours on the When You’re Smiling Podcast and confirmed that he had no intention to leave the King Power Stadium [quotes via Nottinghamshire Live]:
“There’s no time that I wanted to leave. Sometimes I saw the news and I was just laughing because it wasn’t true.”
However, Ndidi’s contract runs out at the end of the 2023/24 campaign and there have been no reports claiming that the player is willing to sign a new deal with Leicester City.
As such, Ndidi will be free to talk to any suitors outside of the Championship in January over the possibility of a permanent free transfer when the summer window rolls back around. Barcelona are keen to benefit from this.
Sport are also reporting that La Blaugrana have had the Nigerian in their sights for a while but a deal was never possible due to Leicester City’s price demands. The Foxes may have no say in the matter over the coming months.
Writer’s View
It wouldn’t be a surprise if Barcelona were interested in signing Ndidi as the five-time Champions League winners are in a difficult financial situation at the moment so a lot of their arrivals have been free transfers.
However, Leicester City may feel hard done by if Ndidi leaves for nothing given that, at 26 years old, the club could have received a decent return from the player’s exit.
