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‘Best defenders in the world’; Manager believes Leicester got a £32m bargain
Former Leicester City boss Claude Puel believes the club got a bargain with Wesley Fofana this summer. The player can become one of the best around.
Claude Puel sold Saint-Etienne’s brightest talent to his old club Leicester City for £32m this summer. He didn’t particularly want to but felt he had little choice.
Speaking after the deal, Puel explained that ‘‘ about the transfer – the club needed the money.
And now, after the player made his Leicester debut this weekend, Puel has talked Fofana up. He believes that despite the hefty fee, the Foxes got a bargain.
“In a year, Wesley would have cost much more, because big clubs had scheduled his breakthrough for that time,” he said, . “He can become one of the best defenders in the world.”
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Well, if you’re a club like Leicester and you want to secure talents like this, they’ve done it the right way. Puel seems to believe that the big clubs were all one year behind, getting ready to secure him in 2021.
Instead, Fofana broke through last year and Leicester were ready to pay the cash. Expertly done, really. Now he needs to fulfil his potential – and it certainly looks considerable.
After all, when you pay £32m for a teenager, you’re paying for that potential, rather than what he can do now. Leicester will hope that Fofana quickly grows into a top player and helps them compete at the top.
And if Puel is right, then the minimum here is that Leicester sell him on for a big profit. Either way, this should end up being a fantastic deal for Leicester.