Leicester City have lost out in their pursuit of Sao Paulo defender Lucas Beraldo ahead of the January transfer window as the defender is set to join Paris Saint-Germain.
It was first reported by ESPN that the Brazilian defender was close to joining the Ligue 1 champions for £17 million and transfer expert Fabrizio Romano backed this up by revealing that the 20-year-old has been booked in for a medical this week ahead of completing the deal.
🔴🔵🇧🇷 Paris Saint-Germain have booked medical tests for Lucas Beraldo next week as Brazilian centre back will travel to Paris with his agents in order to sign long term deal.
São Paulo will receive €20m fee, no add-ons as revealed two days ago.
Here we go, 100% confirmed. pic.twitter.com/H9WtBwCZ9S
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 24, 2023
It was previously claimed in Brazil that Leicester City had been tracking the centre-back ahead of the January transfer window and that the Foxes were preparing a £17 million bid for the youngster.
Furthermore, it was reported by UOL a little over a week ago that the former Premier League champions were the favourites to acquire Beraldo’s signature as Enzo Maresca is keen to bolster his defensive department once the winter market opens up.
A deal also made sense due to Harry Souttar’s uncertain future at the King Power Stadium, with Maresca willing to allow the Australia international to leave as soon as an acceptable bid comes in for him.
Nevertheless, in what seems to have come out of nowhere, PSG have offered the same amount that Leicester were prepared to and have come out on top in the race for the young centre-half, with the player set to complete his move to the Parc Des Princes very soon.
Maresca will now have to start looking at other targets, with Nottingham Forest star Joe Worrall being linked with a move to Leicester, although it’s unclear how Steve Cooper’s departure from the City Ground will affect the chances of this transfer coming to fruition.
Writer’s View
For a while, it did look like Leicester City would win the race for Beraldo as the Foxes seemed to be most serious about signing the player, alongside Russian Premier League side Zenit St Petersburg.
However, when a club like PSG stepped up their pursuit of the player, it was always going to be an impossible task for Leicester to convince him to move to the Championship.
Deputy Head of Writing
