Wolves and Leicester join race to sign defender targeted by Crystal Palace and Newcastle

Wolves and Leicester City have entered the race to sign Bayer Leverkusen centre-back Odilon Kossounou, according to reports.

Kossounou has been heavily linked with Crystal Palace this summer as a possible replacement for Marc Guehi who, in turn, is a rumoured target for Newcastle United.

Somewhat ironically, Newcastle have also been credited with an interest in Kossounou.

On Thursday, Leverkusen managing director of sport Simon Rolfes admitted ‘it is certainly possible’ Kossounou could leave the club before the end of the transfer window.

“I can’t say. In general, he is a player we are planning with,” the former Germany international said of the 23-year-old, adding: “However, it is certainly possible that there may still be one or two changes in our squad.”

Wolves and Leicester join Kossounou race

According to a report from Sky Germany (via Get Football News Germany), Wolves and Leicester have entered the race to sign Kossounou.

With Palace so far managing to keep hold of Guehi, they’re unlikely to have the €30m it’s understood to be required to convince Die Werkself to part ways with Kossounou. Instead, the Eagles will likely turn to Wolfsburg’s Maxence Lacroix having just sold Joachim Andersen to Fulham.

That would leave Newcastle to battle it out with Wolves and Leicester for Kossounou’s signature.

Although no club has yet come forward with a concrete offer, it’s now expected that the Ivory Coast international will leave having been an unused substitute in Leverkusen’s recent clashes with Stuttgart in the DFL Supercup and Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga.