Leicester City have just a few days remaining in the January transfer window to bring in the attacking midfielder they crave.

But how do they go about picking the player they will pursue? And how do they have such an enviable success rate in the transfer market? Here is a look at the process they go through.

Meeting of minds

The process starts with a meeting between manager Brendan Rodgers, head of recruitment Lee Congerton, who followed him down from Celtic, and City's director of football Jon Rudkin, and finishes with a list of three targets, ranked by preference, for Rudkin to chase up.

Rodgers explains: We will have a look at where the gaps are in the squad and where we want to improve. We'll then highlight the positions where we need to strengthen.

Then Lee will go away along with Jon and his team of people, they will then come up with the players that fit the profile of the market that we are in.

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Then, once they've done that, we'll sit down and look at the recommendations that come through. That's a whittled down number of players.

From there, there will be three options that we would be happy to get in. We hope we would get the number one option. That's the process.

And then once the player has been identified, Jon and Lee will go away and see if they can complete the deal for the club.

Three types of scouting

There is a mix of scouting involved in finding the right player. The recruitment team use statistics to pick out targets, and City have Mladen Sormaz in a recently-created head of analytics role to really drill down into the numbers, but any potential signing also has to pass the eye test, while calls are also put in to determine their personality.

Rodgers says: (Analytics) is a significant part of recruitment now but it has to be in balance.

We have Mladen here who does a lot of that work for us along with the other scouts. When we identify a player, he will specifically look at the statistics and that side of it.

Its always in balance because statistics will never tell you if a player has a heart, or what his technique is like. You can only see that when they play, and you get to know that with the people you speak with.

Its a useful tool, but so is someone having a good set of eyes and seeing the potential in a player.

Why are City so good?

A lot of Citys success has been on forward planning, and having a pipeline as Rodgers has described it.

When Harry Maguire left the club, Caglar Soyuncu was able to step up more seamlessly because he had been signed a year earlier and had been able to settle.

It was the same case for James Justin this season, the young full-back more confidently filling Ben Chilwells boots at left-back because he had 12 months experience under his belt.

Rodgers recently said that City have a pipeline for every player in the squad, with lists that are constantly being updated with the latest names.

Brendan Rodgers has kept his powder dry this January, but there is time for that to change before transfer deadline day on Monday, with window closing at 11pm.

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On how City have been so successful, Rodgers says: Its understanding the market youre in. We know the types of players we want to bring in. Well never be spending 60m to 80m on a player. We have a profile of a player that we like and that we want and that fits into the model of our game and we will be competitive in trying to get that player in.

When theyve come in, theyve been great. Lee and his team have been fantastic, getting in players like Wesley, and James Justin, hes been outstanding. If you look at the other players, Dennis Praet has come in and been very good, Timothy Castagne, Ayo Perez has been very efficient.

Its a huge credit to them, they do a great job, and we get amazing support from the owners.

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Three-man shortlists and three scouting tests anatomy of a Leicester City transfer - Leicestershire Live