Even though Leicester City has made several astute acquisitions this summer, not every deal has worked out as expected.
In the wake of being demoted, the Foxes may have lost key players Harvey Barnes and James Maddison, but they did not panic during the transfer window, replacing them effectively and preparing their team for the Championship struggle.
To their credit, it has been done successfully, with Leicester leading the pack after 11 games and reaching double digits in wins by October. Any concerns about the team free-falling following the Premier League highs have been quickly allayed.
The 2016 Premier League champions served as the perfect example of the value of assembling a good but committed team on a tight budget, with players like N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez developing into elite stars.
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However, not every transfer after the historic title win has gone as planned, with some mediocre moves and dramatic transfer sagas not turning out as expected.
After that, we’ll look at four players who have flourished abroad but didn’t have much success at the King Power Stadium for various reasons.
Adrien Silva
The £22 million deal for the midfielder, who was expected to be Leicester’s headline acquisition ahead of the 2017–18 campaign, got off to the worst possible start when it was postponed until January because it missed the deadline by only 14 seconds, putting both sides in uncertainty.
After joining the team right away in January and participating in 12 Premier League games, the former Sporting CP midfielder’s playing time substantially decreased in his first full season in the Midlands.
The 2018–19 top-flight campaign featured just one start for the Portugal international before he spent the second half of the campaign on loan with AS Monaco, thereby concluding his time with Leicester after a total of 18 months with the Ligue 1 powerhouses. The now 34-year-old later moved to Italian side Sampdoria before a more recent stint with Al Wahda.
Rachid Ghezzal
Rachid Ghezzal, a fellow Algerian international, was added to his new team to improve the wide attacking options after Riyad Mahrez left in 2018.
The former Lyon player, who joined for a reported £10 million fee from AS Monaco, made 19 top-flight appearances in his debut season, eight of which were starts. He scored one goal in a 2-1 loss to Liverpool, just days after he had scored his first goal for the team against Fleetwood Town in the EFL Cup.
After a modestly successful season, Ghezzal spent the following two seasons on loan with Fiorentina and Beşiktaş before making a permanent transfer to the Turkish giants in 2021. After contributing to 25 goals during his original loan period, the 31-year-old now gets consistent playing time in Istanbul.
Ahmed Musa
The gifted forward made a strong impression during his time in the Netherlands and Russia before signing with Leicester for a rumored club record cost of £16 million.
The Nigerian international scored twice in back-to-back games against Tottenham Hotspur and Crystal Palace during his solo stint in the Midlands, but he only earned seven Premier League starts in 21 appearances.
Musa did not score again in the league during the 2016–17 season, but he did score twice against Everton in the FA Cup. The next season, Musa only made substitute appearances in the Premier League.
He returned to CSKA Moscow on loan for the remainder of the season after an unsuccessful 18-month stint before making a permanent move to Al Nassr in 2018 and subsequently joining a Nigerian side.
Islam Slimani
The fact that he joined for a club record of almost £30 million did not work in his favor, even though he was not the poorest performer on this list in terms of stats.
Slimani entered 2016 with confidence after tallying 39 league goals for Sporting CP over the previous two seasons. He delivered a respectable seven-goal return with four assists in 23 games during his first season in England, including a debut double against Burnley.
The Algerian international, however, had a disappointing second year, starting just two Premier League games before spending the second half of the campaign on loan at Newcastle United, where he appeared just four times.
Before making the move to France permanent with Lyon in the following year, subsequent transfers to Fenerbahçe and AS Monaco were made.
