Leicester City man on Napoli transfer radar | OneFootball

Leicester City were one of the favourite for promotion from the Championship for good reason, and Enzo Maresca is clearly getting a tune out of his Foxes side.

City are clear at the top of the second tier by 10 points from Ipswich Town, and with the addition of a mix of experienced players who have been there and done it, as well as younger, exciting attacking talents, the right mix has been created at the King Power Stadium.

It took a lot of shedding of the wage bill though to create Maresca's perfect squad, with the likes of James Maddison and Harvey Barnes cashed in on, senior players like Youri Tielemans, Ayoze Perez and Caglar Soyuncu released and a select handful of first-teamers loaned out.

One of those that fit into the latter group was Boubakary Soumare, who was an expensive £17 million purchase the summer prior in 2022 from Lille in France but he failed to make a significant impact for the Foxes in his debut year.

After playing 26 times in the Premier League for Leicester, Soumare was not in Maresca's plans for the 2023-24 season, but he was loaned out to Sevilla of La Liga, which secured the Frenchman a UEFA Champions League side to play for.

The 24-year-old has played 15 times for Sevilla so far this season, but despite appearing semi-regularly in Spain, Soumare could be on the move once more in January.

Soumare wanted by Napoli in mid-season transfer deal

Despite signing a season-long loan with Sevilla, with the option for the Spaniards to also make it a permanent deal at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, Soumare has a new potential suitor for the second half of the season and potentially beyond.

According to Italian publication Corriere dello Sport, as relayed by Sport Witness, it is Italian Serie A champions Napoli who are interested in adding Soumare to their squad, having decided to abandon moves for Pablo Fornals and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.

It is said that Napoli are in continuous talks over whether to pursue a move for Soumare this month, and the fact that he has only played in 55 per cent of available minutes for his current club means he could be tempted to make the move himself.

A development could happen in the coming weeks, but Napoli - who sit eighth in the Serie A table but are into the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League - for now are watching and negotiating from afar.

Napoli could be a good fit for Soumare

Considering he didn't overly impress for Leicester last season, it was a little bit of a surprise that Soumare was able to fall into a Champions League club like Sevilla, but some fits are better than others for different players.

And he could be set to fall upwards once again with Napoli, who would be another step up for the French midfielder.

We have seen a player drop into the Championship in the last few years with Fulham in the form of Andre Zambo Anguissa make the move to Naples and make a better player of himself, and there isn't any reason why Soumare cannot do the same if he makes that switch.