Newcastle & Aston Villa compete for £21.5 million-rated defender, Rodgers also interested – originally posted on Sportslens.com
Premier League trio Newcastle United, Aston Villa and Leicester City are all competing to sign Fenerbahce defender Attila Szalai, according to Blikk.
With the summer transfer window fast approaching, Szalai is one player who is attracting plenty of attention.
The Hungarian defender only joined Turkish giants Fenerbahce in January but has impressed since then.
Szalai has featured 15 times in the Süper Lig, scoring one goal and assisting one.
Now, according to Blikk, the defender is attracting plenty of attention from the Premier League.
The Hungarian tabloid has reported that Newcastle, Aston Villa and Leicester are interested in signing Szalai.
However, they are not alone in that idea.
Serie A sides Napoli and Lazio are both said to be competing for Szalai’s signature.
The Hungarian defender signed for Fenerbahce in a £1.8 million deal in January.
However, Blikk claim that Fenerbahce are looking for £21.5m, which would make Szalai the most expensive Hungarian player in history.
SL View – Who is Attila Szalai and would he be a good signing?
Understandably, most fans would not know who Szalai is, with the defender largely an unknown entity.
However, there are a couple of factors to gauge his potential.
Despite only playing for Fenerbahce since January, Szalai has a 7.00 rating on WhoScored.
That is the 7th best in the Fenerbahce squad, with Diego Perotti topping the list.
His best match came back in March, where he scored an 8.48 rating for his performance in Fenerbahce’s 3-0 win over Konyaspor.
While it’s hard to say how good Szalai could be in the Premier League, he is the type of hidden gem that would benefit Newcastle, Aston Villa or Leicester.
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