Leicester City midfielder Boubakary Soumare has travelled with the squad for their pre-season tour of Thailand and Singapore, despite links with a transfer away from the club this summer.
The Frenchman has failed to make a big impact at City since his move from Lille two years ago. The 24-year-old did though start seven of the eight games under interim manager Dean Smith at the end of last season.
Soumare has been left out of the squad for the last two pre-season games, as City came out as 1-0 winners against Northampton on Saturday and 4-2 winners over sister club OH Leuven in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Wednesday. The club simply said that Soumare was ‘not involved’ against the Belgian side.
There has since been reports that the midfielder could be on the move away from City this summer. L’Equipe claim that two Serie A clubs in Napoli and Torino are interested in Soumare this summer , with the player ‘studying’ his possibilities.
It is claimed that the player could leave on loan with the loan club then having an option to make the move permanent next summer. It however seems that any such deal isn’t close, with Soumare appearing to join his teammates in Thailand.
In a video shared on Ricardo Pereira’s Instagram story on Thursday night, Soumare is shown in the airport awaiting the flight to Thailand alongside Ricardo. City arrived in the country this morning, and take on Tottenham in a friendly on Sunday morning (11am, UK time).
They then travel to Singapore where they will face Liverpool in their final pre-season game on Sunday 30 July (10am UK time). City kick off their Championship campaign with a home game against Coventry City on Sunday, August 6 (12.00pm kick off).