Puel not interested to replace Adrien Silva with Youri Tielemans
Leicester City manager Claude Puel has poured cold water on the rumours linking Youri Tielemans to the Foxes and has backed Adrien Silva to stay at the King Power Stadium till the end of the season.
If reports are to be believed, the Foxes have been keeping close tabs on the Belgian ace for quite some time and it is understood that the 21-year-old highly-rated midfielder is keen on securing a move to the Premier League.
Puek, however, has played down the chances of replacing Silva with Tielemans in the January transfer window.
When asked about Tielemans, Puel replied: “He is a good player. He has got good attributes but I have Adrien [Silva].
“For the moment it is just speculation. We have a squad with some players with a desire for more game time.
“And I am happy about Adrien because he can give other possibilities for the team. [He offers different qualities] to [Hamza] Choudhary, [Nampalys] Mendy or [Wilfred] Ndidi.
“Sometimes we can play with three midfielders and I think there will be an opportunity for Adrien to have game time in the second half of the season.
“We will see of course until the end of the transfer window but for me, we need to have a good balance and a good squad.”
Leicester are well-stocked in the midfield department and Andy King is one of the players who are likely to depart the club before the deadline day, with a number of Championship clubs, including Nottingham Forest, interested in the hugely experienced 30-year-old.
“We wait and we hope we find a solution for Andy because he works hard in training and tries his best,” Puel said.
“He has a professional attitude and I would like to find a solution [for him] to get game time. I have a lot of respect for Andy and it will be a good opportunity for him.”
