Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is eyeing up a January transfer swoop for Olympiakos midfielder Luka Milivojevic, according to reports in the Mirror.
The Premier League winning Italianis on the look out for defensive cover, following summer signing Nampalys Mendy's continued struggle with injury.
The Frenchman, intended as a direct replacement for last season's hero N'Golo Kante,lasted just 52 minutes of his first leaguegame for the Foxes against Arsenal,before going off with an ankle injury.
In OctoberMendy sinceunderwent an operation on the ankle, to remove bone fragments,andhas been sidelinedever since. Ranieri may have little choice but to dip into the transfer market in January to shore up his available options.
Milivojevic, a 25-year-old defensive midfielder, who has 19 caps for his country,has impressed over the last two years at Olympiakos - so much so that he was rewarded with the club captaincy.
With three goals in the club's first 11 games, the Serb would also seem to represent more of an attacking threat than the Foxes current contingent.
According to some news outlets, talk havealready begun but are said to be in thevery early stages.
A benefitto the potentialmove would be the fact that there is no Champions League football for Greek side Olympiakos this year, meaning Leicester (who are already through to the knockout rounds)would be able to fieldhim in Europe.
Luka Milivojevic scores a 96th minute winner for Olympiacos vs PAOK. pic.twitter.com/q9CZmGJrcl
Ranieri's men have so far struggled to produce anything like the form that saw them crowned shock Premier League champions last season.
Although they managed to keep hold of stars such asJamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, the loss of Kante has provensignificant so far, and theongoing injury problem withMendy has onlyexacerbated things for aLeicester side crying out for some midfield energy and tenacity.