Nigerian Midfielder Wilfred Ndidi at the King Power Stadium after being unveiled as a Leicester FC player on January 5, 2016. PHOTO/LEICESTER
LEICESTER, United Kingdom, January 6- Leicester have moved to get their season back on track with the acquisition of Nigerian defensive midfielder Wilfred Ndidi from Genk.
The Foxes have struggled to reproduce the form that saw them win the Premier League for the first time against all odds last season, with the loss of N’Golo Kante central to their faultering title defence during the first-half of the 2016/17 campaign.
Kante was sold to Chelsea during the off-season and although the East Midlands outfit replaced him with Nampalys Mendy for a then-club record £13 million transfer from Nice, the Frenchman missed 19 matches with a serious ankle injury.
Claudio Ranieri’s side have averaged less tackles per game than last term and the Italian hopes the arrival of Ndidi, who has signed a five-and-a-half-year deal at the King Power Stadium, will help them improve results on the pitch.
“We’re very happy to have Ndidi here – he’s an impressive player with a big future. We’ve followed him a lot and we hope he can impress our fans quickly,” Ranieri told the club’s official website.
“He trained well with the squad today. It was his first training session so we need to see him tomorrow before we decide whether he will play at Everton on Saturday.”
The Nigeria international said on LCFC TV: “My first impression was ‘wow’. I trained and it was really good because it was really high intensity. I feel I can learn a lot here.
“Claudio welcomed me and then he explained to me how the team and everything worked, which I’ve sometimes seen on TV.
“I want to just try and understand how the game flows in the Premier League and then work towards that.
“For now, I am the kind of player that plays for the team. I try to win the balls for the team – that is one of my main attributes. I hope to achieve a lot here.”
