Rating every Leicester City summer signing: #8: Abdul Fatawu
Two left-footed right wingers on loan with an option to buy, Jon? Two? That’s insane!
Is one half an hour cameo of chaos enough to make Abdul Fatawu Leicester’s most popular summer signing?
David Bevan: 9
We knew pretty much all of the pre-existing pace and creativity in attack would be lost from the squad with the departures of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison. We hadn't seen much evidence of it being adequately replaced, even accounting for the drop in opposition standards, until...
Nearly an hour into the fifth league match of the season, Abdul Fatawu swaggers onto the pitch. On this brief evidence, he's the kind of player who can offer a lot of what's been missing - that electric pace and willingness to commit defenders, causing chaos and disrupting the opposition's defensive shape. He's clearly incredibly raw and no doubt there'll be some shocking performances along the way but he excited the crowd like nobody else.
Of course, Maresca also still has to fit him into the system, which will be tricky given his primary defensive contribution was to lunge two-footed at a Hull player from five yards away. But he's already my new favourite player, so make it happen Enzo.
Adam Hodges: 9
Leicester lifted the tempo in the second half against Hull City and Fatawu was the main catalyst of this. He showed quick feet to take the ball past his man and was unfortunate to strike the post.
He had two further shots at goal in the 36 minutes he was on the pitch and should be ahead of Akgun in the pecking order. A right winger who cuts in on his left - we have had many a player over the past five years who have only shown glimpses of quality we need down the right flank.
The 19-year-old has plenty of promise having been named player of the tournament when his Ghana team won the U20 Africa Cup of Nations two years ago. Willing to prove himself and should suit Maresca-ball.
Joe Brewin: 9
Still pretty early to call, but his debut was great fun. Shooting from 35 yards could get tiring pretty fast, but there’s a lot more positives to take from his game – being direct, unpredictable and generally very exciting. We’ve lacked that kind of bravery on the wings in recent seasons, so it’s very welcome to have it this season.
Fundamentally he’s clearly a player who’ll need patience – he’s at this level for a reason and will mess things up as well as make some magic. But I’m absolutely here for it at this moment.
James Knight: 7.5
Hossain Kaebi, anyone?
I jest, of course (a bit), but for me our man Fatawu is a relatively risk-free wildcard, mostly for the future. He’s exciting, but probably isn’t going to set the world alight this season.
We’ve signed a lot of relatively unproven attackers. Personally, I’d have liked to complement all this potential with some proven output. It’s not Fatawu’s fault that he isn’t that, but it’s hard to rate him as our best signing of the summer compared to the likes of Coady and Winks, who are much more likely to help us get promoted this year.
But still, tricks! Speed! Mugging defenders off! It’s all good stuff.
Average rating: 8.6
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