Report: Leicester bid for Southampton's Jannik Vestergaard

The Athletic report goes on to detail how the club have not yet accepted the offer and are holding out for something worth up to £18m.

Danish defender Vestergaard’s Saints contract has run down to its final year and prompted manager Ralph Hasenhuttl to admit: “It’s never an ideal situation to go into, now we must look what happens.”

The 29-year-old Copenhagen-born behemoth had a top drawer European Championship campaign with the eventual semi-finalists over the summer, but now faces an uncertain future with the south-coast club.

He has returned to training with the squad and watched on from the stands as his side succumbed 3-1 to Athletic Bilbao in the final pre-season friendly.

After the great Dane joined Saints for a £22m+ fee in July 2018, Hasenhuttl had admitted the situation could go either way.

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Speaking to BBC Radio Solent last night, Hasenhuttl said: “I think we were all sure in the moment where a player has only one year left on his contract, we have to look what is best.

“It’s never an ideal situation to go into the last year of contract without extending it. Jannik is a fantastic player, he did a fantastic job in the last two years with us, he played a fantastic Euro with Denmark.

“Now we must have a look what happens, either he extends his contract or yeah when there is an offer and he has a chance to go to a bigger club he must always decide what to do.”

Vestergaard has been linked to clubs such as FA Cup winners Leicester  but also Tottenham and West Ham – although CEO Martin Semmens has insisted he’s never asked to leave.

Jannik Vestergaard helped his country reach the final four of the 2020 European Championships

Speaking at the same forum as the Austrian gaffer, he added: “Not at all, he’s a fantastic professional, always done a really good job for us, very intelligent, communicates well.

“Similar to the Danny (Ings) situation, he’s really happy here, been a professional from day one. There isn’t so much dialogue that goes on, he’s professional, training every day, these guys want to play football.

“But as Ralph says, we hope these guys sign new contracts with us and stay, but if they don’t then we have to be open for them to leave.

“But no he hasn’t asked to, he’s comfortable here, all is going ahead as usual.

"If we were to lose any player, Jannik or anybody, we will address that and reinvest in some form, so don't worry, if he was to go you will see a new face - yes."