THE NOTEBOOK: Leicester’s Harvey Barnes will attract huge bids this summer after King Power drama
THE NOTEBOOK: Leicester’s Harvey Barnes will bring in huge bids this summer, Conor Coady’s time at Everton looks all over the place and Indian film star Ranveer Singh was treated to major drama at King Power Stadium
- Leicester’s Harvey Barnes will receive huge bids from Premier League rivals
- Conor Coady’s loan spell seems over, but he may not be needed at Wolves either
- Kasper Schmeichel and Shinji Okazaki showed what the Foxes lack this season
Leicester City drew 2-2 with Everton on Monday night in a relegation six-pointer that saw both sides miss crucial points in their bid to stay in the Premier League.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot, but Atletico Madrid-tied Caglar Soyuncu equalized and Jamie Vardy pushed the Foxes ahead in the first half.
James Maddison missed a penalty deep into first half stoppage time and Alex Iwobi scored an equalizer for the Toffees in the 54th minute.
Neither side could find a winner during the match, with Abdoulaye Doucoure negating a late winner by Daniel Iversen.
Here, Sportsmail TOM COLLOMOSSE shares some of the more unusual talking points of Leicester City 2-2 Everton:
Harvey Barnes is likely to receive strong interest from Premier League rivals this summer
Everton came from behind to pick up a point but dropped two in their quest for league safety
James Maddison isn’t the only Leicester player likely to receive bids from high-profile Premier League clubs this summer.
Harvey Barnes caught the interest of Newcastle a year ago and after scoring 10 goals this season in a struggling team, the homegrown winger will have suitors once again.
Leicester wanted around £60 million for Barnes, 25, in 2022 and would struggle to get anything close to that amount if they were relegated.
Barnes’ contract expires in 2025 and he is a proven Premier League performer who played a key role in Leicester’s recent golden spell of 2019-21 as they won the FA Cup and finished fifth twice.
Conor Coady is another who faces an uncertain future this summer.
The centre-back is coming to the end of his loan spell at Everton, who have an option to buy him from Wolves for £4.5 million.
But Coady hasn’t started a game since Everton’s 2-0 home defeat to Aston Villa on February 25 and it’s hard to imagine Everton making the move permanent, especially if Sean Dyche keeps it up.
He would then return to parent club Wolves in the summer. Former boss Bruno Lage let Coady leave and his successor Julen Lopetegui already has four central defenders, so there may not be room for the 30-year-old defender at Molineux either.
Conor Coady is on loan at Everton but he’s struggling to play and may not fit in with Wolves either
Shinji Okazaki’s return to the King Power showed what the Foxes have been missing this season
The presence of Premier League title winners Kasper Schmeichel and Shinji Okazaki at the King Power Stadium was a reminder of what Leicester has been missing this season.
As well as high quality, it was the never-say-die attitude of these types of players that epitomized Leicester’s remarkable march to victory seven years ago.
Schmeichel’s powers were waning before joining Nice last summer and he could be an abrasive character, but he made high demands on those around him.
A little more of that would certainly have made Leicester safe long ago.
A little research into his water bottle meant that Jordan Pickford saved Maddison’s penalty
Everton deserve most of the criticism thrown their way this season, but no one can accuse them of failing to do their penalty check.
Jordan Pickford’s drinking bottle appeared to include detailed diagrams of where each Leicester kicker preferred to shoot.
Sure enough, Pickford held on as Maddison went down the middle in stoppage time of the first half – just as the cheat sheet predicted – and was able to make a routine save.
It’s been a really tough season for Jamie Vardy, but here he was at his best again.
The 36-year-old scored his second in as many games, hitting the crossbar and a header kicked off the line – despite only hitting the ball 16 times in the first 50 minutes.
Jamie Vardy was at his best again during the 2-2 draw against relegation rivals Everton
Given he looked so dangerous it was a real surprise that Vardy didn’t take the penalty from Leicester at the end of the first half.
Indian movie star Ranveer Singh is used to a lot of drama, but even he couldn’t have written the wild events at King Power Stadium last night/Monday.
Ranveer has 14 million followers on Twitter and was previously a guest at Leicester.
If this is the entertainment on offer, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him back for more.