James Maddison will lead the Leicester exodus this summer with a queue of Premier League clubs ready to snap him up.
Tottenham, Newcastle and Arsenal are among the clubs eyeing up the England midfielder who could go for around £40m because he only has a year left on his current contract.
Leicester are likely to value him for more than £50m and will have to hope there is a bidding war for his signature to drive up his value as they look to sell some of their biggest stars following their relegation to the Championship.
Maddison, 26, is set to be the first out of the door with Newcastle long admirers and their sporting director Dan Ashworth was even at Leicester’s defeat to Liverpool this month.
Tottenham are also interested as they look to improve their midfield options while Arsenal are keeping tabs but their No1 transfer target is Declan Rice and may not move for Maddison unless they can offload and then look to strengthen.
Leicester will be forced to balance the books this summer as their relegation from the Premier League will be devastating from a financial perspective.
They may have to sell Harvey Barnes and Wilfred Ndidi as part of the fire sale while they have seven players out of contract.
Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans, Daniel Amartey, Ryan Bertrand, Papy Mendy, Ayoze Perez and Youri Tielemans all become free agents.
Belgium star Tielemans, who scored Leicester’s winner in the FA Cup final two years ago, is likely to be in demand but his stock has certainly fallen in the past two seasons.
That will certainly ease the wage bill at Leicester but they will also have to sell to survive and prepare to make an immediate return to the top flight.
Club chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha has issued an apology to supporters following the relegation, and says he has received abusive messages asking him to sell the club.
"This responsibility that I continue to live is one of the greatest responsibilities in my life and I will continue to put everything into it – my passion, that of my family and the entire King Power community," he said.
"I have received a massive number of messages from our fans – both positive and negative. Some want me to sell the club, some using offensive and thoughtless words, and some have been outright abusive.
"But for every hurtful message I have received, I have also received messages of support, of appreciation, of unity – both remotely and from people I have met anonymously in public, who always come to say hello to me and to my family. It means a lot to us.
"We want to thank you and let you know that we still have the same ambition for Leicester City that we had 13 years ago.
"The incredible support we had in our stadium yesterday, the positive messages we have received from our fans and the constructive comments we must take on-board – we will gather all this support and use it to power our recovery.
"Power to justify our fans’ belief in their Club. Power to take us back to the Premier League."
