The King Power Club's supporters would be highly disappointed were they to lose Abdul Fatawu at this stage in the season. With the Foxes sitting outside the play-off spots, having talents with the creative and devastating impact that Fatawu has remains vital to our chances of getting where we expect to be. Further to this, should the player leave, Marti Cifuentes will be desperate to bring in someone who can make a similar impact.
Reports suggest Sunderland has renewed interest in the Ghanaian for this window. The Premier League side is performing very well at this time and will be looking to make their form count with more aggressive and young talents who can offer energy, hunger, and a devastating desire to prove themselves. That is what Fatawu brings to the table.
Should Cifuentes' first name on the teamsheet depart Leicester, the team will be left with a mostly ineffectual front line constructed by combining older players and those who are inconsistent. As such, the squad would likely need to find a replacement for the forward line who is capable of scoring, assisting, or utilising powerful off-the-ball movement to draw defenders out of position. That is on top of the need to sign a new midfielder.
How Leicester City target Alioune Ndoye fits in
In the scenario, we lose the gravitas of Fatawu; sufficient on-pitch gravitas will be needed to replace what was lost first with Jamie Vardy and second with our starman. It seems the East Midlands outfit has placed its hopes partially on a possible move for Vitória de Guimarães' (Portuguese top-flight side) Alioune Ndoye.
The player is not a direct replacement for Abdul Fatawu. Cifuentes would still require either using promoted youth talents or another signing if he wanted a right-winger. Ndoye is a centre-forward who offers a compelling stylistic profile, strong defensive contributions from the front, and might chip in enough to help the team at least not crumble.
It is worth noting before we progress too far that the Senegalese striker is a low-minutes high-impact player at this time. This impacts our assessment of the talent significantly, as it would mean the player is untested in longer sessions and more matches. It also makes statistical and stylistic analysis more challenging in the absence of a robust dataset. Nevertheless, there are important takeaways which could make the player a vital grab in the possible loss of Fatawu, or a possible partner should we retain our star.
Across all competitions, Ndoye has accumulated 20 appearances for the Portuguese team, notching up five goals, with around 139 minutes between each goal (current season). If we compare this to either Jordan Ayew (who would be out of the team if the Senegalese forward joined) or Abdul Fatawu, the comparison is favourable to Ndoye: with Ayew having 338 minutes between each goal and Fatawu 439 minutes. Clearly, there is some high-energy impact the striker is bringing to the table.
On top of this, we know that one of the roles of our right winger is to support the first press collectively with a striker. This requires two aspects: an angled run and consistent attempts to block, intercept, and challenge opponents. The goal of this is to force the opposition down a particular path which suits the organisational structure of the team behind. Leicester City's Ghanaians do this very well.
Alioune Ndoye does this as well. Adding to this stylistic preference for pressing is a further preference for positive off-the-ball movement, providing options for fellow forwards and attacking midfielders by creating space, positioning well in the box, and being aerially dominant. This has often led to the player receiving the ball earlier in passages of play as a direct long-ball option, and Ndoye has the strength to hold up the ball well.
This is something the Foxes do attempt regularly, but neither Patson Daka nor Ayew have offered sufficient ball retention or aerial dominance to make use of direct, quick passing. Cifuentes' outfit has used this tactic to try to break a compact high press, which often causes their slower technical players more difficulty in build-up play. Therefore, where Fatawu began to offer that wide, fast-paced running outlet, Ndoye offers an actual outlet in the centre, currently not offered by our strikers.
It remains to be seen whether Leicester struggle with set pieces due to players, system, or mentality, but we have seen flashes of intelligence from some talents, and Fatawu has certainly been one of them. Most of the time, as a deliverer, but occasionally as a short corner option, the right-winger has been instrumental to some of the successful set pieces we have had. Ndoye would flip that on its head, offering the King Power Club a receiver rather than a deliverer who can finish their shots from foot or head and win the ball in the air.
In short, the two players are different. It is not quite right to say Ndoye can replace Fatawu since the player is a striker, but the gravitas on the pitch to create space for others by drawing defenders in, that is something we would sorely miss, and that is something the Senegalese striker would bring to the table.
Further, despite being less of a creative playmaker than our Ghanaian winger, the possible signing could bring another dimension to our creative play with better hold-up, stronger aerial presence in direct passing, and allow us to continue the rest of the team's functional system in the absence of Fatawu.