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Leicester City have opened contract talks with James Maddison as Brendan Rodgers defiantly declared that none of the club’s star players would be sold in January.

City are in the initial stages of discussions with Maddison and his representatives, the England international midfielder among a number of players attracting interest from the Premier League’s big spenders.

Maddison’s form – 11 goals and nine assists in his 48 league appearances for City – has caught the eye of Manchester United, while their other young England star, Ben Chilwell, has been linked with Chelsea and Manchester City.

The champions also reportedly hold an interest in Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu, the duo forming the meanest centre-back pairing in the division this season, City conceding just eight goals in their 12 Premier League matches.

But none of those players will be heading for the exit at the King Power Stadium when the transfer window opens in the new year.

City could also strengthen their hand with a new deal for Maddison, albeit they are in no rush to get the 22-year-old to sign, as he still has more than three-and-a-half years to run on the five-year contract he penned after his £22m move from Norwich in the summer of 2018.

City rewarded Harry Maguire with a new contract just a year after he joined the club, but his standing had changed significantly after he helped England to the World Cup semi-finals, while there was concrete interest from Manchester United, who he joined a year later for £80m.

Now a full England international after making his debut against Montenegro last week, Maddison is on course to be similarly rewarded with a new deal.

And Rodgers delivered a hands-off warning to any potential suitors.

“Of course there will be players linked, that’s the job of you guys [the media] and there’s lots of speculation and gossip which goes around,” the City manager said. “Agents have to do their work getting their clients out there.

“For me, our job is to keep what we have, which is important and, if there’s an opportunity to improve the squad [in January] we will look to do that.

“If not we will carry on with the squad we have, which is very strong. Then we’ll look at it again in the summer. But we’ll certainly not be looking to lose anyone.

“For us we want to grow. There’s a lot of development left in this squad.

“Every club will lose players at some point but we’ve absolutely no plans to lose anyone in January.

“The worst case scenario for us [at the end of January] is we’ll have the same squad as we have now, which I’m very happy with.”