Leicester City 2024 summer transfer window recapped

Leicester City will be looking to return to the Premier League with a bang following their shock relegation in the 2022/23 season, however, the Foxes weren’t absent from the English top tier for too long, securing promotion as champions of the EFL Championship.

Albeit their return to Premiership didn’t hold as well…

Enzo Maresca and Kiernan Dewsbury Hall join Chelsea

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Leicester didn’t start the summer well. Enzo Maresca left the Foxes to join Chelsea as their first team coach. A Fan favourite at King Power, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall followed Maresca to West London, with the Blues forking out a reported fee of £30 million for the academy graduate.

Dennis Praet, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marc Albrighton all left the club at the conclusion of their contracts, leaving Leicester short of personnel, especially in the middle of the park.

While former Chelsea boss Graham Potter was the initial favourite to make his way to Leicester City in the managerial role, the negotiations with him fell through, resulting in the appointment of Steve Cooper instead. This decision did not go well with the Foxes faithful, who were not as thrilled about being led by the former Nottingham Forest manager.

Among abundance of woes, there was some good news though. After his successful loan spell at the King Power Stadium in the previous season, the club did manage to Abdul Fatawu’s services in a permanent deal with the Foxes paying Sporting Lisbon £14 million for the services of the 20-year-old, a seemingly low fee for a player who had scored six goals and assisted a further 13 in the Championship.

Leicester City’s pursuit of forwards

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Leicester also welcomed Bobby Decordova-Reid, Micheal Golding and Caleb Okoli. The Foxes still needed reinforcements up top. Brighton’s Facundo Buonanotte was brought in on loan and Bayer Leverkusen’s Adam Hlozek was identified as a key target. Leicester were close to signing the youngster but Hoffenheim swooped in at the last minute to pry the forward away from East Midlands.

The Foxes did announce a new player shortly after, albeit it was not the forward that the fans were expecting; defensive midfielder Oliver Skipp was unveiled as a new Leicester player, with the 23-year-old joining from Tottenham Hotspurs for a fee of £20 million. The King Power outfit still needed a forward and an attacking midfielder. The next transfer announcement by Leicester was a forward but fans were still unhappy. Jordan Ayew was a new Fox. Leicester had agreed a fee of £5 million with Crystal Palace for the 32-year-old. Ayew’s 22 goals in 195 league appearances for the Eagles did not stir optimism in the fans.

With time running out for Leicester, Steve Cooper announced that they were still looking to bring in at least two new faces. Not too long after, the Foxes announced the £20 million arrival of Bilal El Khannouss, a young midfielder from Genk who was regarded as quite the talent. On deadline day, Leicester brought in their final player of the summer transfer window – Crystal Palace’s Odsonne Édouard. The striker had been scouted extensively by City during his Celtic days and will now don Leicester’s colours for a year as part of his season-long loan from London.