Bilal El Khannouss is “with us” at Leicester City, manager Marti Cifuentes stated, but he acknowledged that sales would be approved if they were “the best for the future of the club”.
El Khannouss is anticipated to depart City before the transfer window closes and has attracted significant interest from Crystal Palace as they search for a substitute for Eberechi Eze.
Sky Sports report that a deal valued at £32m is near completion between the two clubs.
Cifuentes was hesitant to address El Khannouss’s future, but did mention that departures were feasible.
This is particularly true as the Spaniard remains eager to trim his oversized squad to avoid challenges in keeping players content throughout the season.
“There’s going to be a lot of speculation and a lot of rumours about our players because they are good players, so I’m not surprised,” Cifuentes said on Thursday afternoon.
“That’s the reality, at this stage of the window especially. It’s 10 days left and I assume there’s going to be a lot of speculation.
“The reality is that Bilal is with us and he’s a very good player. It’s normal, this speculation, and I will not comment much on that.”
When asked if he expected any players to exit this week, he said: “If someone needs to leave because we feel that’s the best for the future of the club, we will proceed, and we will then find a player to help us improve.
“We’ll see if it will happen but again it’s just speculation at the moment.”
El Khannouss is not the only player generating transfer chatter, with Abdul Fatawu, Harry Winks, James Justin, Caleb Okoli, and now Kasey McAteer appearing in the rumor mill.
When asked if the club had received offers for any players, Cifuentes said: “At this stage of the window, there’s always a lot of activity. Yes, there might be (bids).
“But the reality is that we as a club need to do what’s best for the future of the club. I said from day one, the target is to ensure that on September 1, we have the squad we want, the best squad possible, and that’s the way we’re working at the moment.”