Leicester rejected a £15m bid from Monaco for Boubakary Soumare as they seek to recoup the £23m fee

Leicester have turned down a £15million bid for Bouboukary Soumare from Ligue 1 side Monaco as they look to recoup more of the £23m they forked out for the midfielder.

Soumare joined Leicester only last summer but Brendan Rodgers is willing to allow him to leave to generate funds to refresh his squad.

Leicester are the only Premier League club still to make a signing this summer, and Orkun Kokcu of Feyenoord is one of Rodgers primary targets.

Soumare shone as Lille won the Ligue 1 title in 2020-21 but the midfielder struggled to adapt to life in England, starting only 18 games across last season.

His stock remains high in France, though, where Monaco want to make him the replacement for Aurelien Tchouameni, who joined Real Madrid for £68m earlier in the window.

Along with Soumare, a number of fringe players at Leicester are available this summer but the Foxes have yet to move them on.

Jannik Vestergaard – another of last summer’s signings – is on that list along with Ayoze Perez, Hamza Choudhury and Caglar Soyuncu.

Rodgers said in the spring he was looking for five or six new players. Asked about Leicester’s business last weekend, he said: ‘I want to improve the squad, I want to develop the squad, I said that midway through last year, but if it’s difficult financially, I really respect the club, so I don’t go to war with them.

‘It’s unfortunate. We have to do some work and if we can do that, then hopefully we can affect the squad because if we are going to compete anywhere near where we have been, then we need to be able to do that. If not, then it’s a different expectation.’

Meanwhile, captain Kasper Schmeichel has returned to training this week. The Dane was allowed to miss the club’s pre-season training camp in France after playing for Denmark in the Nations League in June.