Meet the midfielder wanted by Leicester, Juventus AND England

Having a number of clubs fight over the same player can be quite common in transfer windows, but there can’t have been too many instances where a three-way tussle also involved a national team.

According to the Daily Mail, Juventus and Leicester are both interested in Sevilla midfielder Steven N’Zonzi, while Sky Sports report that Sam Allardyce wanted to the name the former Stoke player in his first England squad.

The French-born 27-year-old lived here for six years while playing for both Blackburn and the Potters. But after contacting the Football Association to declare an interest in playing for the Three Lions, N’Zonzi was told of his ineligibility due to his France U21 caps.

Allardyce, who names his first England squad on Sunday evening, revealed he would have been open to picking the player, having worked with him at Ewood Park. However, he’ll now have to look elsewhere.

There are no problems of eligibility for Leicester and Juventus though, as both parties toy with the idea of meeting the Sevilla midfielder’s release clause.

That fee is thought to be around the £25m mark and would be the Foxes’ record transfer by some distance should they land their man.

Although meeting the figure won’t necessarily be a challenge, beating off the lure of Serie A’s biggest side could be a tough task.

The Old Lady are yet to sign a replacement for Paul Pogba and could see the chase of their first choice, Blaise Matuidi, fall flat if the Frenchman decides to renew his contract at Paris Saint-Germain.

With a spot in the starting XI up for grabs and regular title challenges and Champions League football available, Turin looks like a very attractive destination.

While Leicester have Europe’s premier competition to play in this season, they are 9/1 to book their spot in next term’s edition by landing in the top four.

Claudio Ranieri’s side earned their first win of the campaign against Swansea last time out, but are already five points off the pace at the top of the table and are 50/1 to retain their title.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.