AEK ATHENS are ready to offer Jannik Vestergaard an escape route from his Leicester City hell.
Brendan Rodgers paid Southampton £15million for the Danish international in the summer of 2021 after Wesley Fofana suffered a serious knee injury in a pre-season match against Villarreal.
But the giant defender flopped with the Foxes and soon fell out of favour with Rodgers who only gave him 10 Premier League appearances before dropping him.
Vestergaard made a rare appearance for 45 minutes of Leicester‘s 1-0 pre-season win at Northampton yesterday, in Enzo Maresca’s first official game in charge.
SunSport understands AEK have made contact with the Foxes over a potential move, although the Greeks valuation of Vestergaard at around £4m fell well short of Leicester’s valuation.
Maresca kept his cards close to his chest when asked about Vestergaard’s future and said: “At this moment Jannik is in the same situation as all of my players.
“He is our player, he is training with us, that’s it, we will see what happens in the future.”
However the Italian boss has already signed 19-year-old centre-half Callum Doyle, who he worked with at Manchester City, on a season-long-loan.
Vestergaard’s Leicester career crashed and burned when his relationship with Rodgers turned toxic in March after the defender turned down offers to join from Fulham and Hertha Berlin.
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The Dane then gave an unauthorised interview to a Danish publication, claiming he couldn’t understand why he had been frozen out of the Foxes’ first team.
That incensed Rodgers who insisted he had been crystal clear about Vestergaard’s situation.
The Northern Irishman even questioned whether the Dane had a twin brother who had been standing in for him during those meetings.
Rodgers banished the defender from first team training and Vestergaard did not play one minute of Premier League football last season.
His last Prem appearance was against West Ham in February, 2022.
Now AEK hope to land him for a cut-price fee with incentives now Leicester are in the Championship with a new manager who wants to build his own squad.
The Foxes want to recoup as much of the £15million they invested in the defender but, with one year left on his contract, they may have to settle for around £5million.
Even that could prove too costly for AEK who would struggle to meet Vestergaard’s £60,000-a-week wages unless Leicester pick up some of that financial burden.
