From James Maddison & Wesley Fofana, to Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy, the King Power Club have signed some simply sensational talents over the years. In the last decade+, supporters have seen brilliant signings take the East Midlands outfit to the top of the English leagues, through frustrating attempts to break into the Champions League, and through abyssal lows of relegation.
However, there have been those linked where either the player pulled out, demanded to leave, the selling team refused to sell, or simply the Foxes were unable to meet the exact demands of the selling club. It is those talents we are focusing on today. Although an exhaustive list is perhaps unhelpful, I shall curate a short list of the top five players who Leicester City tried to sign but ultimately failed to get over the line. I also did not want to research ancient history, so I have limited this to the last decade+.
Leicester City's failed pursuits
1 | Ousmane Dembele
The talented and sensational French footballer Ousmane Dembele was once a target for Claudio Ranieri after the Foxes' miraculous title-winning season. At the time, the winger was 19 years old and played for Rennes. Leicester City wanted to spend good money to reinforce what was a star-studded team they knew was to be gutted by big-team transfers in the coming windows.
Dembele would have been a coup for the King Power side. I do not for one minute think the Frenchman would have remained at Leicester for a prolonged time. However, the main benefit would have been the immense transfer fee the player commanded. After the failed attempt to sign the player despite a call from the head coach, the winger joined Borussia Dortmund, later joining Barcelona for more than £100m.
The Ballon D'or winner currently averages 1.06 xG per 90 minutes, is an elite goalscorer, and could have been instrumental to Leicester's first foray into the Champions League were the signing completed. Instead, after a call with the legendary head coach, Dembele rejected the move to the Foxes himself, deciding the Bundesliga was a better place to develop.
2 | Harry Kane
The English striker Harry Kane has been vital in every major international tournament for some time, and currently resides among the best goalscoring talents in the world. Truly, this one is again a major financial loss for the East Midlands outfit: just imagine the funds we could have gotten from the inevitable sale.
Tim Sherwood reportedly prevented the move from materialising when the Chairman Daniel Levy was prepared to sell the elite striker to Leicester for a measly fee of £600,000. This was following a loan spell at Belvoir Drive during the 2012-13 season. Although only scoring twice that campaign (stuck behind a strong striking line-up), LCFC put their bid in and were almost accepted.
Since then, Kane became a top goalscorer, international team captain, Tottenham's highest goalscorer, and is probably the best all-round striker at both positioning and hold-up. Again, although Kane would never have remained at the King Power, had he developed here, the Premier League & Champions League stories could have ended differently. Especially with the possible money a sale could have brought in.
3 | Arkadiusz Milik
Another striker. Leicester tried on two occasions to bring Milik to the King Power. First was in 2012 when the Foxes were still a Championship club (this would have been an interesting move with the cast of high-profile forwards already at the club) and then later after their Premier League title win saw them in desperate need of both reinforcements and in fear of losing Jamie Vardy.
The Polish forward both times ended up rejecting the club-preferred transfer to Leicester City. Of course, the player went on to become an elite goalscorer at Ajax before leaving for Napoli. Currently, the Polish star plays for Juventus. For Ajax, he ended up scoring 47 goals and accumulating 21 assists before departing across all competitions.
Although the signing would not have been transformative for the East Midlands team, if signed after the Premier League win, the support for Vardy could have been significantly improved, and the talent may have benefited from Champions League football. Again, the possible transfer fee away would have also been a great draw: £35m roughly if we go on his move to Napoli.
4 | Michael Keane
Another one of those former loan stars. Michael Keane featured in the Championship during the 2012-13 campaign. The defender ended up at Burnley as a regular before his eventual move to Everton where he is perhaps best known for. It was - again - in the aftermath of the Premier League title win where Ranieri was trying to establish some credible stability.
Burnley refused to sell to Leicester for the £15m roughly the Foxes were offering. At the time this would have been a massive outlay for the then Premier League starlets. The next year, Keane joined Everton for £25m. The missed talent could have been a major boon to a defensive line-up which was only getting older and would come to sorely miss someone great under pressure and composed.
The English defender became an international and has reached around 2.5-3.5 defensive actions per 90 (in high-value actions such as tackles, interceptions, and blocks) with a success rate of around 60%. Leicester missed out on a composed, high-energy defender capable of providing stability and dealing with heavy pressure from attackers. His strength also lent itself well to a team under the cosh. The English Premier League winners could have done with that in the years after the title win.
5 | Wilfred Zaha
Perhaps the most contentious addition to this list, Wilfred Zaha was heavily linked to the King Power for some time in his twilight years at Crystal Palace. The winger was considered an all-round attacker who was technically excellent, could be explosive at times, and other times, could offer enough creativity to produce myriad chances for his team.
Leicester were the leading team linked as he left Crystal Palace, attempted to loan in the player during his time at Galatasaray, and now the talent currently spends his time ripping up the MLS. He was a high-potential signing who could have challenged on our left and helped to build a more consistent and steady goalscoring side. However, his recent transfer situation could indicate we dodged a possibly risky signing.
Although Leicester City have had a storied decade+, the team have failed at times to attract those top players they wanted, or simply were unable to put up the money they needed to secure the signing. This has lost them a stable defender, world-class goalscorers & providers, and reinforcements which could have powered their Premier League campaigns after the title win.
There were plenty more where the Foxes missed out. Please let Foxes of Leicester know through our social channels your top picks, and whether you would try to sign any of them again, knowing what happened in their career after the failed move. Also, if you would like an analysis of more missed targets, please let us know.