The Fosse Way’s no-nonsense Leicester City transfer deadline day liveblog
Fed up of trawling through social media and messageboards for information but still too invested to ignore it all?
We are here for you - with regular updates of the latest situation in the Great Leicester City Nearly Everything Must Go Firesale of September 2023.
And maybe we’ll buy a player or two as well…
We’re going to wrap things up there.
Thanks for joining us today for what was a whirlwind half an hour between 9 and 9.30 this morning, and not a whole lot of excitement since. But isn’t transfer deadline day always like that?
It’s not really all over yet of course. So we’ll be joining the BSLB err… X Space later, kicking off some time between 8.30 and 9. Keep an eye out!
7pm
So, two years on from the marquee signings of Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare for combined fees of £40million, they’re both set to go out on loan in one evening.
Soumare has, according to reports in Seville, joined Sevilla after passing his medical. Daka’s about to be announced as a Bournemouth player. Both deals include an option to buy. As ever, we’ll only believe it when we see them holding up the shirt…
And we’re still waiting for that to happen with our only arrival of the day - the impending announcement of Tom Cannon.
All of which means we look close to being able to finalise our squad now for the rest of the season, or at least until January when this madness starts all over again. Of Enzo’s exiles, the one most fans wanted to keep seems to be staying - that’s Harry Souttar, who will surely now be reintegrated into the setup as a backup option.
It also looks like Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi will both remain at the club, which is certain to please Enzo Maresca. And we still have five goalkeepers, although if there is one last unexpected bit of business then hopefully it means Daniel Iversen gets to go and play somewhere else for a bit.
6pm
We officially have more goalkeepers than there are hours left in the transfer window!
Patson Daka is confirmed on his way to Bournemouth on loan, with an option to buy. Could we pencil him in for two relegations in two years while watching on from the bench?
It’s not looking too promising for the rest of the exiles. According to my extensive research, it takes about three hours to fly from Leicester to Seville. And we probably can’t expect Bouba to sprint for the airport.
Barely had a sniff of a rumour about anyone else today. Unless something changes, a few well paid players might be getting the Papy Mendy treatment and being left out of the 25 man list until Christmas. Which, if we’re being honest, wouldn’t be a great piece of squad or financial management.
5pm
Patson Daka to Burnley… AC Milan… Bournemouth?
Boubakary Soumare is currently in Seville having a medical according to Seville newspaper Diario. Possible (?) but he was certainly in training at Seagrave this morning. Judging by last season he found it hard enough to be in one place at once let alone two.
No question marks over this one though. Promising Academy attacker Zach Booth has gone to FC Volendam in the Netherlands on a season-long loan. His older brother Taylor plays for Utrecht, an hour away. So that’s nice.
Oh, and we’ve only got five goalkeepers, so maybe we need a sixth?
4pm
We might have peaked at 9.30 this morning. Not a lot of noise about regarding any other incomings or big name outgoings.
One of the most interesting things Maresca said in his press conference was about how happy he was to have added some younger players to the squad:
“Happy in terms of we needed to refresh. We have bought in young players born between 2001 and 2004.”
We all know how stale the squad had become by the end of last season, and part of the reason was that after Fofana left it felt like we didn’t have any players who were going to get better with Leicester.
In the last couple of weeks we’ve seen Akgun (23) and Fatawu (19) join with options to buy, McAteer (21) and Marcal (20) score their first senior goals for the club. Today it looks like Cannon (20) is going to join as well.
Add the Doyle (19) and Casadei (20) loans, plus the fact that the two ‘keepers are now Hermansen (23) and Stolarcyzk (22) and suddenly the age profile of the squad has had a dramatic overhaul.
It’s even more stark when you look at the list of departures from the summer:
Evans (35), Bertrand (33), Mendy (31), Perez (29), Amartey (28), Soyuncu (27), Castagne (27), Tielemans (26, going on 46), Maddison (26), Barnes (25). Even George Hirst was somehow already 24.
Part of the shift in feeling around the club is about winning. Another part of it is having a squad where we can be excited about what they might become, rather than frustrated by what they are.
3pm
In the absence of anything else, here’s some background from Preston North End on how this summer played out for the club where Tom Cannon enjoyed success in the second half of last season.
Here’s the key quote:
“Tom had actually agreed to not go to other clubs who were in for him. Obviously one has come in for him last minute and he’s chosen to go to them.”
If you’re going to be a big fish in a small pond, may as well make the most of it. On that subject, will we see any late, long-shot, inexpensive loan bids for young or out-of-favour Premier League players in need of minutes or some elite coaching? Surely it would be the smart move…
Here’s some bonus reading on the Declan Rice/Jack Grealish-esque dilemma facing our potential new recruit, an Irish youth international.
2.15pm
Enzo Maresca has been doing his pre-Hull press conference. He more or less confirmed the Cannon news, by saying we needed someone there with the Cup of Nations - scheduled for January - in mind.
Meanwhile, the Seagrave curse has struck again, slamming Dennis Praet out for 2-3 months with a back problem. All those flights to and from Turin can’t have done him any good.
That leaves the central midfield area looking very thin. Could we be planning a late swoop?
One man who doesn’t seem to be swooping anywhere is Harry Souttar. Rob Tanner reports the move to Rangers, such as it was, is OFF.
1.30pm
The difficult thing about doing a no-nonsense transfer deadline day liveblog is that there’s so much nonsense about.
So you can either choose to take as gospel or ignore suggestions that James McAtee’s move to Sheffield United is “complicated” and that AC Milan have run out of time to close a deal for Patson Daka.
Could Leicester City really end up with five goalkeepers and four strikers when the window slams shut?
Let’s update our heat ratings from this morning:
Soumare to Sevilla? Somehow seeming the warmest of the lot.
Ndidi to Forest? Getting much colder.
Daka to Burnley or AC Milan? Milan a little warmer…
Iheanacho to Crystal Palace or Wolves? Cold, cold, cold.
Souttar to Rangers? Freezing.
Iversen to anyone? Yeah.
Ward? Right.
12.30pm
Both The Athletic and Sky reporting that Jonny Evans is signing a one-year deal with Manchester United. Reuniting the Evans and Maguire centre back pairing could be a real riposte to Chelsea’s efforts to become Brighton ‘B’.
Wonder if he ever did respond to our contract offer.
Midday
AC Milan face a race against time to sign Patson Daka on loan today. The talk is a loan fee of around a couple of million quid/euros has been agreed.
We’ll throw in his pre-match team talk for free - “Oggi giochiamo allo Spartak Mosca, Patson”.
Meanwhile, want some light reading on your lunch break? Sunderland’s main fans’ messageboard has a 180-page thread on Tom Cannon which began back in early July. So they’re surely thrilled he seems to be coming to Leicester instead.
In Championship striker manoeuvring news, Sunderland were linked with Cannon because their own Ross Stewart might be off to Southampton. They may sign a striker from your favourite Ukrainian team and mine, Zorya Luhansk, to replace Stewart - who’s currently out injured anyway.
Talking of injured strikers, Norwich were supposedly in for Cannon too before Enzo’s super Blues showed up at the auction. That’s because they need a replacement for Josh Sargent, who’s out for “months”. Norwich are looking at Kieffer Moore from Bournemouth, who would form a robust strike partnership with Ashley Barnes.
Now, those 180 pages aren’t going to read themselves…
11.30am
LCFC Women have announced the signing of 25-year-old defender Julie Thibaud from Bordeaux, capped 3 times by France.
Of course, this was merely a confirmation - the signing having actually been ‘announced’ two weeks ago because Thibaud, along with fellow recent signing Jutta Rantala, was accidentally added as a shirt name option on the club shop website. But nice to have it sorted either way.
Thibaud follows last week’s signing for the men’s team, Yunus Akgün, in making a statement straight away. Akgün said he was here to win trophies. Thibaud says she’s here to “play beautiful football”.
Funnily enough, Thibaud’s FBref scouting report lists her two most similar players as Ashleigh Plumptre and Sophie Howard. So it’s a signing that, yet again, makes sense, and hopefully she proves an able replacement for Plumptre.
11am
Is Dennis Praet to Torino, the world’s most tedious transfer saga since Castagne to Fulham, back on? Perhaps, if The App Formerly Known as Twitter and Google Translate are to be believed.
In terms of what could happen today, let’s have a look at the Leicester squad, assuming Cannon in and Soumare and Daka out:
Hermansen (Stolarczyk, Ward, Iversen, Smithies)
Ricardo, Faes, Coady, Doyle (Justin, Vestergaard, Nelson, Souttar)
Casadei, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall (Ndidi, Praet, Hamza)
Akgun, Mavididi (Fatawu, McAteer, Marcal-Madivadua, Albrighton)
Iheanacho (Vardy, Cannon)
The goalkeepers are clearly absurd. Iversen, surely, has to go, and Leicester surely wouldn’t name five ‘keepers in the 25 man squad. But with Smithies injured, he might simply be left out and we may not be rid of Ward.
Otherwise the one area that looks light is the midfield. Leicester can’t let Ndidi or Praet leave without a replacement, and even if they stay there’s very little cover for those positions.
We are tight to the 25 man squad limit though, with only a couple of names for the U21 list. Marc Albrighton looks a little superfluous, and was one of the men hooked at half time at Tranmere in the week. Could another last minute loan deal be on the cards…?
10am
Let’s take a look at the 8 goals that have convinced us to part with £7.5million for Tom Cannon…
9.30am
There is something comforting about the fact that even football clubs, who essentially live a timeless existence, still apparently wander into the office at 9.15am like the rest of us.
A bumper first half an hour contains news that:
Leicester are close to adding to our attacking artillery with the purchase of guaranteed goals in the form of…an Everton striker! Tom Cannon is on the brink of a £7.5m move to the Foxes.
The potential arrivals lounge has taken a direct hit straight out of the gate as Southampton have confirmed the signing of Taylor Harwood-Bellis on loan from Manchester City.
While James McAtee has picked getting relegated over winning 46 games by choosing Sheffield United.
Elsewhere:
John Percy reports that Notts Forest are close to signing Ibrahim Sangare. Sangare, apparently, is their ‘top target’ for defensive midfield. Maybe word of Wilf’s prowess in the Lampard role is getting around?
9am
Who’s arriving?
The rumours so far involving us:
going to head-to-head with Sheffield United to loan Manchester City midfielder James McAtee, who starred for the Blades last season - they can offer Premier League football, but we can offer the Enzo factor… apparently they win.
firing in a bid for young Everton striker Tom Cannon, who impressed on loan for Preston North End last season - scoring 8 in 20
retaining an interest in QPR’s Moroccan midfielder Ilias Chair, the only possible threat to Cannon in the punning stakes
potentially still waiting to see what happens with Manchester City defender Taylor Harwood-Bellis, who is interesting a lot of clubs - but John Percy says we’re no longer one of them
Who’s leaving?
Who isn’t? Let’s give a heat factor to the latest rumours.
Soumare to Sevilla? Ooh, spicy.
Ndidi to Forest? Bubbling away.
Daka to Burnley or AC Milan? (What a choice) Warm-ish.
Iheanacho to Crystal Palace or Wolves? Lukewarm.
Souttar to Rangers? Chilly.
Iversen to anyone? Sub-zero.
Ward? lol
