Leicester choose Fofana’s replacement – here we go

Leicester City have finally been reliably linked to a new centre-back signing. Here are all the details you need to know about Wout Faes and our verdict.

Although not quite at the final hurdle – confirmation – it has been reported by transfer guru Fabrizio Romano that the King Power club have entered the last stages of signing a new defender. That is none other than Belgian CB Faes. Brendan Rodgers best be taking notes.

Leicester City’s what to know

The 24-year-old Belgian defender is not the most well-known centre-back. In fact, the immediate social media reaction was one of moaning, disappointment, and people using a random football stats site to discredit the signing as ‘just another Daniel Amartey’. Such disrespect on the defender.

Faes came up through the prestigious Anderlecht academy, growing into a fairly balanced and experienced player. This is likely why the Foxes are looking at the player: strong initial development mixed with both a youthfulness and experience. The talent is an oven-baked ready-to-go meal for Brendan Rodgers to use.

As with previous articles, I shall try to briefly denote Faes’ positionality, flexibility, stylistic preference, prolific nature, and what the value of this move would be to Leicester. It should be understood the player is not particularly exciting.

Faes is a centre-back through and through. Although in his whole career, the player has been involved as a DM and a right-back, those appearances were few and far between. Reims’ defender is certainly a right-sided defender who seldom plays anywhere else.

Beyond this, the player is stylistically confusing. According to SmarterScout‘s ratings of him against Premier League players as a RCB, the Belgian scores 83/100 on attacking output, 98 on receiving in the opposition box, and 88 on tendency to dribble.

However, Faes only scores 11/100 on disruption, 7/100 on defensive quantity, and 14 for tendency towards aerial duels. Those are very weird stylistic ratings: a strong attacker who makes less defensive actions comparatively with other central defenders.

Context is always critical to understanding these stats. What they really mean is that Faes is more like Jonny Evans in his decision-making: a preference not to tackle, not to pressure, but instead just to block. In effect, when he does make an action, it is effective. Interestingly, despite being considered in the seventh percentile on aerial duels won according to FB Ref, the player did score three of his four Ligue 1 goals in the 21/22 season via headers.

Once again, this seems to align with his decisions to rather block than actually challenge. Otherwise, the 24-year-old defender is in the 83rd percentile for clearances, and 91st for non-penalty goals. A decent placement against Premier League talent. I suppose any move for the player is clearly focused on bringing an attacking talent from corners and free kicks rather than a focus on an active defender.

To be blunt for a moment, Wout Faes is not Wesley Fofana. ‘WF’ is an Evans-style CB, not a proactive and incessantly progressive player. There remains a gap in the side, a ‘WF’ shaped hole.

It is reported that Leicester City have agreed a five-year deal with the international centre-back, with only minor terms yet to be confirmed with Reims. This deal should be completed before long, and our second signing of the window will be a much-needed reinforcement.

Therefore, the value is critical. Anything below £18m is a good deal for the defender. After all, the cheaper Faes is to sign, the better the other CB we can sign is. Of course, the King Power club should still sign either Maxence Lacroix (an actual Fofana replacement) or Benoit Badiashile (a better Evans cover) to compliment this new Belgian signing.