It is fair to consider what the scope and limitations are with this article, as well as how we ought realistically to judge whether a player was a flop or a success. Regarding scope, we will be including all permanent or loan signings to the senior side since November 2018 (meaning players like James Maddison, Jonny Evans, and Danny Ward are not actually involved). We will ignore players like Alex Smithies, who never played but were never expected to.
A player will be judged a success if they played frequently for the amount of time they were here, contributed well, and were good value for that contribution. A 'flop' in this context will then be a player who either played extremely little despite much hype, performed poorly during the whole time or was wildly inconsistent in availability/performance, or was poor value for what we got out of them.
Leicester's Top Five Worst Transfers since Nov 2018
1. Ryan Bertrand
Remember Ryan Bertrand? For two seasons, this free signing was supposedly meant to bring a 'winning' mentality to the side, experience in chasing for points, and a natural left-sided left-back that could defend well. Instead, the failed Southampton defender joined the team and just sucked up money while being injured most of the time.
In total, the English left-back played around 1,400 minutes per season, managing to keep around 2.5 clean sheets per season played over that roughly 15.56 90 minutes played. With approximately 1.5 total successful defensive contributions per game played, Bertrand played quite a bit, never delivered, and contributed to major defensive frailty in the King Power side.
Even for free, this player was simply atrocious, and signing him left Luke Thomas with less playtime during a period he was performing pretty well. Leicester City did very poorly in thinking Ryan Bertrand could possibly go close to replacing their experienced left-backs, like Christian Fuchs, or promising talents like Ben Chilwell.
2. Conor Coady
Another defender. This time, a central defender who cost the Foxes over £8m and played for one season. This time, the hope was that a former England international, captain for Wolverhampton Wanderers, and physically well-balanced defender would bring composure, leadership, and reliability to our ailing backline. Of course, Coady immediately got injured.
This ended up meaning the Englishman achieved roughly 1,800 minutes of football before departing Leicester City. He kept just two clean sheets. The player was directly responsible for at least one goal but more likely significantly more, due to a lack of pace, decision-making, and an inability to sense danger. Coady did score a singular goal.
However, after one season, Coady left achieving nothing but draining Leicester of money they could have spend on a more positively impactful player. A waste of money, a waste of minutes on the pitch, and did not live up to the hype we might have had. A poor signing.
3. Dennis Praet
I really like Praet during his time at the club. I felt the Belgian lived a bit in the shadow of what was arguably among the best midfields this team has ever assembled (Ndidi, Madders, and Youri Tielemans). Nevertheless, the player was ours for five seasons with 1,440 minutes per season (7,200 total).
Despite significant total game time, the Belgian attacking midfielder never lived up to the positional role of 'attacking' midfielder. With just 0.08 goals per game played and 0.10 assists (this is actually only second to Tielemans), Praet never managed to make a lasting impact in scoring or assisting regularly. The player was also injury prone so struggled to stay in the side even after an alright performance.
Considering Dennis Praet cost around £18m, he was expected to add good depth and offer something when played. Unfortunately, the player never really had a chance to continually prove himself, though he certainly could have done more with the minutes he had. The Belgian was mostly limp, was defensively absent, and just overall did little compared to some other signings.
4. Patson Daka
I was torn on who to include here. It feels harsh to conclude some of our players are flops, but realistically, there is sometimes such palpable hype and media attention, mixed with immense fees, which really set a standard which players did not hit. Ayoze Perez is often floated (with that one miss vs. Chelsea constantly haunting his time with us), but honestly if we ignore the fee paid, I think the Spaniard was definitely better than our current depth options by a mile.
Therefore, the Zambian is in. I had such high expectations. We all did. A top scorer, an elite versatile striker with pace, young enough to take the mantle from the ageing Jamie Vardy, with European experience, and all the technical ability and confidence to help the Foxes score goals and win games. However, living in the shadow of arguably our best-ever strikers and obviously joining during a tumultuous period where Leicester could not defend for the life of them or create chances, the cards were not really dealt in his favour.
Patson Daka is a good player. However, his confidence was shattered literally seasons ago and has yet to recover, missing relatively easy chances and botching handling of the ball. So much could have changed if the player could move just that little bit faster or anticipate crosses just that second earlier: so many near misses which would have 100% gone in. Daka is not our worst-ever striker, not by a long shot.
The problem is purely inconsistency and confidence. When Daka was confident, the Zambian has among the best assists and goals for us since Jamie Vardy. Yet, unable to find or keep any semblance of form despite the huge fee paid for him when Kelechi Iheanacho had been waiting to take the top spot for so long, unfortunately does not paint a good picture for the striker. The talent does have time to make it up and improve and could well be our best striker this season, but for now, that crown somehow rests on 2-goal Jordan Ayew.
5. Oliver Skipp
I genuinely feel quite bad putting Skipp on this list. However, the fee the Foxes paid for the player truly was extortionate versus the contribution they have gotten out of the midfielder. With over £20m paid for him compared to under for Harry Winks, we got a less progressive, less creative, less technically gifted, less defensively sound midfielder that struggles without a proper DM behind and AM in front.
To an extent, the biggest problem here is systematic suitability. Well, the lack thereof anyway: Skipp just does not suit how the East Midlands outfit plays. Therefore, when played, we seem to have a lethargy around the side, with tempo being inconsistent and often too slow to really hit teams on the transition (when our most dangerous talents are strongest).
The player's defensive contributions have been fine for a more progressive talent, but arguably just not good enough for the money paid. Skipp still has time with the Foxes to correct this, but it would take significant game time and a structural change to really help this midfielder make a positive impact
As honourable mentions, Boubakary Soumare and Victor Kristiansen have never performed to the hype and expectations which we thought we were getting. I was excited for these two. Soumare, fresh off winning Ligue 1, you expect to bring a hunger to prove something in the Premier League. Kristiansen was just a perfectly good attacking left-back.
For 'Bouba', he just feels lethargically arrogant. The player believes erroneously that Leicester City have the superior individual quality and therefore does not need immense tempo and hunger to drive the ball into dangerous zones; in his eyes, we are still Rodgers' team: one that needs to hold onto the ball and pass it around to create mistakes rather than a team in trouble.
For the Dane, it is entirely the fact that he lacks defensive intent at a time when the Foxes are defensively weak. Now then, if we had a backline including Wesley Fofana pre-injury and Kristiansen, he would probably have looked like a world-beater.