Leicester City's pre-season training has started ahead of the new season, and it's a great time for Russell Martin to get to grips with the lay of the land at the Foxes.
Of course, every single player who has been noted as joining up for the first training session will want to impress Martin, as youngsters such as Louis Page and Sammy Braybrooke were involved.
Both starlets are tipped to have extremely bright futures at the King Power, with League One perhaps the ideal setting for the pair to finally come into their own in the senior game at their boyhood clubs.
It must have been weird for Leicester fans to not see the likes of Ricardo Pereira pictured during these drills, as the Lisbon-born defender was once part of the furniture at the ex-Premier League champions.
He has left, though, as a new, hopeful era under Martin becomes more real, with Wanya Marcal also another absentee from all these pre-season arrangements, as he exited the club this summer, too.
Marcal's Leicester departure
Unlike Pereira, who was a first-team regular over many years, Marcal would never end up solidifying himself as a must-have on the starting teamsheet.
There were flashes of his promise in the senior fold, as he scored a terrific thunderbolt during the Championship-winning reign of Enzo Maresca, but that was all she wrote on his underwhelming senior career at the Foxes, with just one goal to shout about from ten outings.
Wanya Goal ! #LEICAR pic.twitter.com/caycesN4ou
— FosseHub (@FosseHub) August 19, 2023
Making just one appearance last campaign in the FA Cup, the writing was on the wall for the four-time Portugal U20 international's career in the Midlands for quite some time, with a failed one-goal loan stint with De Graafschap during the 2024/25 season just adding to his misery in men's football.
Yet, Leicester might not have seen the last of their disappointing winger, as he is being incredibly lined up to make a move to this team, who will be a rival for the Foxes to tussle with this coming season.
Leicester could live to regret getting rid of Marcal
Stunningly, despite never fully breaking through in the main ranks at Leicester, the 23-year-old could soon end up on the books of Sheffield Wednesday.
As per the Sheffield Star, Marcal is currently training with the Owls, as the South Yorkshire giants eye up a seamless move back to the Championship via promotion.
They have already been very busy in the transfer market, with Ricardo Santos joining, alongside the likes of Callum Slattery leaving Motherwell behind for Hillsborough, and if the one-time Championship title winner were to impress behind the scenes, he could be yet another bold foray.
With 11 goals in the U21 ranks under his belt at Leicester, it will be up to Wednesday to get this tricky and slick version of Marcal to come to the forefront in the men's game, if they insist on sealing a permanent deal for the free agent.
Marcal will hope to have the last laugh over his ex-employers if he can win himself a permanent contract at Hillsborough, as the Owls and the Foxes will be seen as the two early favourites for League One promotion, just based on stature alone, with Wednesday's early business perhaps putting them in the driver's seat to win the intense division over Martin's men.
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