Leicester City rival Everton for Moroccan midfielder and son of NBA star

Leicester City are keen on Moroccan international Amir Richardson, according to claims in France. City, Everton and Udinese are the three teams leading the chase for the 22-year-old Reims midfielder, L’Equipe report.

While Richardson still has three years remaining on his contract at the Ligue 1 club, he is said to be considering his future after being handed just 14 starts last season.

Richardson has a release clause of €10m (£8.5m) but so far that has been deemed too high by those interested. Strasbourg have even pulled out of the race because of it.

The son of former New York Knicks basketball star Michael Ray Richardson, and standing at 6ft 5in himself, the defensive midfielder certainly has an interesting profile. He looks to be a good carrier of the ball and, naturally, is strong in the air.

The season before last, he was named in the Ligue 2 team of the season after helping Le Havre to the second-tier title, and now he has a campaign of top-flight football under his belt too, even if he didn’t start regularly. What may help his cause is that the incoming manager at Reims, Luka Elsner, was his boss at Le Havre.

If City were to make a move for Richardson, they wouldn’t see much of him in pre-season. He’s been selected in the Morocco squad for the Olympic Games in Paris, with the tournament running from July 24 to August 10.

City are short on midfielders after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s departure, but it’s attacking options they really need in the centre of the park at the moment. As things stand, Steve Cooper has three senior central midfielders to work with in Harry Winks, Hamza Choudhury, and Boubakary Soumare.