The future of one of Leicester City manager Steve Cooper’s recruitment objectives has dealt him a serious setback.
Prioritizing their preparations for life without former midfield player Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who contributed 26 goals to the Championship in 2023–24, is what Leicester City has done.
Steve Cooper has added players all over the field since Dewsbury-Hall left to play for Chelsea under former Foxes manager Enzo Maresca, most notably Bobby De Cordova-Reid from Fulham and Caleb Okoli from Atalanta.
Michael Golding, the former manager of Nottingham Forest, has also joined the King Power from Chelsea, but his transfer business is far from over.
Callum O’Hare, a former midfielder for Coventry City, and Matt O’Riley of Celtic have been identified as potential candidates for more alternatives in the park’s center.
Cooper was looking to bring an attacker in to bolster his options, however he has received bad news on the transfer front with one of his main targets choosing a move to Serie A giants Roma over the Premier League.
Matias Soule chooses Roma over Leicester City
Leicester City’s continued efforts to get Juventus winger Matias Soule have been severely impeded.
Gianluca DiMarzio claims that the attacker from Argentina has decided to transfer to Roma, and if he had to choose between the two locations, he would pick the Giallorossi.
For a reported £30 million, the winger was apparently permitted to depart from Serie A powerhouse Juventus, with Roma purportedly “ready to meet this assessment.”
Alongside recent Leicester City addition Okoli, Soule played a season on loan at Frosinone, where he ended as the team’s leading scorer in Serie A with 12 goals.
A massive blow for Steve Cooper and Leicester City
Cooper had rightfully targeted the wide areas as a position which needed extra reinforcements ahead of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
With Leicester City’s budget not quite stretching enough to be able to get a proven Premier League goalscorer through the door, they were always going to have to take a gamble on a wide player, something that would have likely paid off with Soule.
Despite getting relegated with Frosinone last season, he showed that he can still perform whilst under the cosh in the top leagues.
For a similar price, Cooper will struggle to find a target with as much promise, potential and goal scoring ability as Soule did, who was able to perform at the highest level in Serie A.
Leicester City will have to regroup in the necessary pursuit of a Premier League standard winger, however they have certainly lost out on a gem in the Argentinian winger.
