"Rumours of Chelsea sniffing around" - Leicester City urged to retain player with England potential | OneFootball

Ben Nelson could become an important player for Leicester in the coming years

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Leicester City can now fully get their pre-season preparations underway following confirmation of Marti Cifuentes' appointment at the King Power Stadium.

The 43-year-old has a plethora of key decisions to make between now and his first Championship outing against Sheffield Wednesday on August 10th, with it being reported that the Spaniard is going to have to balance the books before acquiring his own transfer targets amid financial uncertainty due to alleged PSR breaches.

High-profile names have already departed, whilst the likes of Bilal El Khannouss, Wilfred Ndidi and Mads Hermansen continue to be the subject of strong exit talk from the East Midlands at present.

With that in mind, Football League World asked our Leicester fan pundit, Louchlainn Martin, which player the club cannot afford to lose at all between now and September 1st.

Leicester City urged to retain Ben Nelson's services as defender tipped for future England prospects

Martin's selection on this particular front was the highly-rated 21-year-old centre-back, Ben Nelson, who impressed in the second tier last season with Oxford United despite two spells on the sidelines with a quad injury.

Nelson has only made nine senior appearances for Leicester thus far, and in May was the subject of reported interest from Chelsea, managed by former City boss, Enzo Maresca. Unsurprisingly, Martin has urged the club to snub any offers which come their way for Nelson, as he holds extremely high hopes for the academy graduate.

"There is genuinely just one player I think the club can't afford to sell this summer, and that's Ben Nelson," Louchlainn told FLW. "He's such a promising player and I think he's going to play for England in the future, I genuinely do.

"The reason I think, above anyone, that he's a non-negotiable to keep this summer is, I don't think it's quite time for him to go," he explained.

"If he'd already had his breakthrough season, playing lots of games at a high level and performing to his best, like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, I think you could argue that it's time for him to flourish elsewhere. But, right now, I don't think we're at that point.

"I think Ben Nelson will play every single game for Leicester City this season if he stays around," Martin stated. "He featured a bit under Enzo Maresca in the Championship last time - he was trusted as a back-up to Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard and was favoured over Conor Coady.

"Having watched him and seen the reaction and comments online from Oxford United fans last season, they love him, they think he's going to go on and play for and captain England, and I think he's the future captain of Leicester City.

"We've already lost Jamie Vardy, we're going to be losing more next summer with experienced players out-of-contract. So, I actually think Ben Nelson is in a good position to take on the captain's armband so soon if he plays a lot of games next season and cements himself in the team," Martin continued.

"I genuinely don't think there's even a question from any Leicester fan that Ben Nelson is the guy to start for us this year. We're looking to sell Wout Faes, which I think is time to do so. Jannik Vestergaard is going to be hard to get rid of - maybe he partners Ben Nelson - but we'd rather he didn't play much.

"Ben Nelson is the one who is closest to being a fully-fledged player at a higher level, I think, out of the young players. We do have some other exciting youngsters, but I think he's already at a level where he can really make an impact in the starting XI for 46 games.

"Do not sell Ben Nelson," our fan pundit urged. "There's rumours of Chelsea sniffing around, do not get rid of him. Keep him for as long as possible.

"You'd probably get just £15m for him now. In a year's time, that could be £40m, so I really hope to see a lot of Ben Nelson this season."

Ben Nelson could make significant Leicester City breakthrough under Marti Cifuentes

There are several players among the ranks at Leicester who should be excited about the prospect of working with Cifuentes, and Nelson definitely falls under that category.

With the Spaniard looking to adopt a possession-heavy approach, it allows the youngster to continue showcasing his ability to play out from the back in a side with much greater quality and, equally, pressure in comparison to when he impressed at Oxford last term.

In turn, this could have majorly positive ramifications on his overall development. Several of the current England stars blossomed in the Championship, and there is no reason why the same can't apply to Nelson, and that would also boost his transfer value, which Leicester could be keeping close tabs on given the uncertainty they find themselves in.