Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has told the Daily Record defender Filip Benkovic could leave on loan in January with Derby County a reported possible destination.
According to The Telegraph, the Rams have launched a loan bid for Benkovic.
The Croatian centre-back has barely played for Leicester since joining in 2018 for £13 million. He spent last season on loan at Scottish Premiership champions Celtic.
And Rodgers has told the Daily Record he could be moved out again in January.
It depends. If there’s the right team for him and there’s the right possibility then of course we will look at that. He stayed behind, he’s offered us really good cover, he’s been involved in some of the Under-23s games, so he’s been playing football. We’ll see how that develops over the course of January.
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Benkovic has an abundance of quality and became a fan favourite at Celtic.
The 21-year-old won the Scottish Premiership title, the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup during his time at Celtic Park. He even drew comparisons to Virgil van Dijk.
Derby must arrest their slide in the Championship table. The Rams have gone six games without a victory, and they haven’t scored an away goal since October.
The Telegraph state Derby will back manager Phillip Cocu in January. A new striker, wide player, central midfielder and goalkeeper are all areas to improve.
But a new central defender is a top priority. Curtis Davies and Craig Forsyth are the current first choice pairing at Derby despite both being out of contract next summer.
Benkovic would be a big improvement at the back. He would be guaranteed starts, and Derby’s idea of playing out from the back could help aid his development.
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