Leicester City are now just two-and-a-half weeks away from beginning a new chapter in the Championship, but there appears to still be plenty of transfer business for Enzo Maresca's side to conduct.
Amid strong suggestions that Harvey Barnes will be the next big name through the King Power Stadium exit, the Daily Mail reports that Leicester are showing an interest in signing Manchester United winger Amad Diallo on loan.
Which Leicester City players have left?
Since being relegated from the Premier League in May, just seven years after winning the title, Leicester have seen a number of first-team regulars depart for pastures new.
Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Perez, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy and Youri Tielemans are among those to have departed as free agents, while James Maddison joined Tottenham Hotspur in a reported £40m move.
City used that Maddison money to sign Conor Coady and Harry Winks for a combined £17.5m, while goalkeeper Mads Hermansen has also arrived from Danish side Brondby.
Diallo could now be next on new manager Maresca's list of targets, and the United winger would make for a more-than-adequate replacement for Newcastle United-linked Barnes.
How many goals has Amad Diallo scored?
Since joining Man United from Atalanta in a reported £37m deal in January 2021, Diallo has played just three times for the Red Devils in the Premier League.
The 21-year-old spent the second half of the 2021-22 campaign on loan in the Scottish Premiership with Rangers, before being sent to Sunderland for the whole of last season.
Diallo proved to be one of the best players in the Championship last time out, as he scored a team-high 14 goals and assisted three more in an entertaining Sunderland side that narrowly missed out on promotion via the play-offs.
The Ivory Coast star, who is on wages of £28,800 a week at Old Trafford, according to Capology, was described as a "wizard" by National World reporter James Copley for his display in Sunderland's win against Blackburn Rovers last season.
Diallo happened to be the eighth top-scoring player in England's second tier last season and averaged 0.45 goals per 90 minutes in the regular season, as per FBref. Barnes was Leicester's best-performing player in that regard with 0.43 goals per 90 in the Premier League.
While the quality of the two leagues must be factored in, the pair scored at an almost identical rate last season. Diallo averaged 0.10 assists per 90, meanwhile, compared to 0.03 for Barnes, suggesting the former is a more creative force.
The two players are also very alike in terms of their playing style. For example, Diallo recorded 3.73 progressive carries per 90 last season – an effective way to measure how attacking a player is – compared to 3.32 for Barnes.
Barnes did find the target from a higher percentage of his shots (47.2 v 39.1), but Diallo completed a higher percentage of his passes (84.7 v 69.8), while there was little between the two in terms of percentage of aerial duels won (33.7 for Barnes, 33.3 for Diallo).
Leicester supporters would rather keep hold of Barnes than lose him, of course, but should his asking price be met – in the region of £40m – then the Foxes can ensure the loss is not felt too much by bringing in Diallo.
