Brendan Rodgers says Ben Chilwell has no need to leave Leicester City to develop into one of the best left-backs in the world, but the manager accepts there are no guarantees the player will stay.
Chelsea are among several clubs considering bidding for the 23-year-old England international, whose performances have helped Leicester to third place in the Premier League. Rodgers says that if such transfer speculation were to turn into a tangible offer, Leicester would deal with it in the same way they dealt last summer with similar interest in Harry Maguire, although not necessarily with the same outcome. Maguire ultimately expressed a desire to join Manchester United, from whom Leicester received £80m, a world-record fee for a defender. Rodgers says Chilwell has given no indication he wants to leave.
“All you can ever do is create an environment where players will feel they can improve and develop, and enjoy their football,” said Rodgers. “But I also recognise players may well look beyond Leicester City. I’ve never felt that with Ben. He’s a huge talent and for me he can be one of the world’s best left-backs. He’s understanding here what it takes every single day, not just on a game day, and what it takes to be an elite player in terms of lifestyle and professionalism.
“I can only see him getting better and he can get that here at Leicester, of course. I think he’s shown that, particularly this season. I can say that, but of course players and agents may well have other ambitions for players. That’s not something you can always control.
“I’m always pretty relaxed on it. We had this last summer with Harry Maguire, and with really open communication. He knew what we were creating here, he knew the work that we were doing, but of course he’s got the lure to go to one of the biggest clubs in the world. He decided he wanted to go and the club rightly made that sale so they could get the money that they wanted. But at this moment in time it’s not something with Ben that we’re considering”
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With nine games left, Leicester are eight points above United and closing in on a place in next season’s Champions League. The clubs face each other on the final day. Rodgers says Chilwell is concentrating on ensuring Leicester stay in the top four.
“We still want to finish the season strongly and he is very committed and focused on doing that. Then we’ll see what the summer brings but here at the club we’re all relaxed on it.”