Wilfred Ndidi (signed for Besiktas 9m)

[Guest Bilo]

Good business for us and a new challenge for a player who's always given everything and never downed tools; he was a genuine contender for best CDM in the Premier League at his peak, even if it has gone a bit south due to injuries etc. We get a decent transfer fee for him, big wages off the books and money in the coffers for a player we'll need. 

[ren]

Will be to see him go, but it's a good deal for us. He was a staple in our midfield for a few years and arguably one of the best in the division in his prime, and one of the few players who we can say never gave up when the going got hard.

Edited 5 August 2025 by ren

[kingfox]

Will be interesting to see who we replace him with. Even though I think his Leicester City career has run it’s course, he’ll leave a big hole in terms of attributes that our other CM’s don’t really possess. 
 

We lose defensive nous, physicality and aerial ability in midfield. 
 

Marti had all those attributes covered at QPR with Jonathan Varane and Sam Field. 
 

Ideally someone with those skill sets is needed, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if we go for someone like Brownhill instead. 

[Steve Earle]

2 hours ago, James_lcfc said:

Full redemption arc for Rudkin if this ones goes through...

Steady!

[Verumex]

3 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Will be interesting to see who we replace him with. Even though I think his Leicester City career has run it’s course, he’ll leave a big hole in terms of attributes that our other CM’s don’t really possess. 
 

We lose defensive nous, physicality and aerial ability in midfield. 
 

Marti had all those attributes covered at QPR with Jonathan Varane and Sam Field. 
 

Ideally someone with those skill sets is needed, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if we go for someone like Brownhill instead. 

I don't think we do replace him. I know it doesn't make for nice reading, but we have Soumare, Skipp and Winks for the double pivot, and even Hamza at a push.

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, James_lcfc said:

Full redemption arc for Rudkin if this ones goes through...

Whilst it will be good for the club to get this done, it's his release clause. Perhaps we've done well to hold our nerve and not accept a lower figure but this can be the beauty (Brendan ©️) of release clauses as it tempts buyers at a price they might otherwise not be as tempted if it wasn't there/known.

 

Still will be good for the club.

[HankMarvin]

If there are all these rumoured clubs to be looking at him, seems odd no one took the chance when he was on a free it was quite well publicised.

[James_lcfc]

9 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Whilst it will be good for the club to get this done, it's his release clause. Perhaps we've done well to hold our nerve and not accept a lower figure but this can be the beauty (Brendan ©️) of release clauses as it tempts buyers at a price they might otherwise not be as tempted if it wasn't there/known.

 

Still will be good for the club.

True. I guess £9m doesn't sound a lot if you are desperate to strengthen in central midfield.

 

It's a lot for Ndidi though, which is why he's had to go to Turkey in the end - He was finished at a decent level years ago and still has pretty high wage demands.

 

Considering he was on a free a year ago, this is brilliant business from the club.

[kingfox]

9 minutes ago, Verumex said:

I don't think we do replace him. I know it doesn't make for nice reading, but we have Soumare, Skipp and Winks for the double pivot, and even Hamza at a push.

Personally I think it’d be stupid if we don’t replace him, our midfield just loses too much with him gone. 
 

Ideally we need someone who can play box-to-box, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Brownhill, but imo we need someone box-to-box who also has similar attributes to Wilf. 

[MGLCFC]

7 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Personally I think it’d be stupid if we don’t replace him, our midfield just loses too much with him gone. 
 

Ideally we need someone who can play box-to-box, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Brownhill, but imo we need someone box-to-box who also has similar attributes to Wilf. 

I think Brownhill (if we are lucky enough to get him) will fill the KDH roll when we were last in the Championship.  Unfortunately, I can see Soumare been given Wilf's role.

[lcfc_forever]

2 hours ago, James_lcfc said:

Full redemption arc for Rudkin if this ones goes through...

He's £200m behind so he's about a tenth of the way there with this and Coady!

 

I wonder if the club have changed the structure (maybe Glover has stepped up more?) but not said anything to avoid losing face. 

[Bourbon Fox]

46 minutes ago, Verumex said:

I don't think we do replace him. I know it doesn't make for nice reading, but we have Soumare, Skipp and Winks for the double pivot, and even Hamza at a push.

 

30 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Personally I think it’d be stupid if we don’t replace him, our midfield just loses too much with him gone. 
 

Ideally we need someone who can play box-to-box, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Brownhill, but imo we need someone box-to-box who also has similar attributes to Wilf. 

Replace prime Wilf, the mobile defence-screening ball winner that anchored the side and allowed Tielemans to do his business? Sure

 

Replace the Wilf we have at the moment, who had limited success as a high 8 but doesn't really have the feet to play out, doesn't seem to own the tackling like he used to and doesn't have much pace? I don't think we need to.

 

Unfortunately we've got a glut of central midfielders but we don't have the box-crasher or the ball winner at the moment.

 

I'd like a midfielder who can give opponents a headache on the edge of both boxes.

 

 

[slymunn]

45 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

I think Brownhill (if we are lucky enough to get him) will fill the KDH roll when we were last in the Championship.  Unfortunately, I can see Soumare been given Wilf's role.

Wouldn't it be Winks, BEK, Brownhill.. Instead of Winks, Ndidi, KDH

Edited 5 August 2025 by slymunn

[FrankieADZ]

 

[JimJams]

Fxxk off all you Spanish clubs.

 

Where were these cheap fxxkers last season?

[MGLCFC]

3 minutes ago, slymunn said:

Wouldn't it be Winks, BEK, Brownhill.. Instead of Winks, Ndidi, KDH

Hopefully

[Lesta Legend]

He’s been a great servant for the club. While playing for us perhaps one of the best in his position in Europe, a good reason for our continued success. But injuries haven’t been kind and we’ve suffered too. He’ll definitely be a player I’ll look back on with fondness maybe not his row Z efforts. 
 

He’s done us a favour to sign that contract to eek a little of much needed cash. 

[hackneyfox]

2 hours ago, foxgas said:

Teams like Bournemouth, Fulham and Brentford had nothing like our wage bill last season. We are paying the price for p***  poor management, needs sorting for us to move on.

And we now have nothing like our wage bill of last season and by the start of next season we will have the vast majority of big earners off the books and another season of huge losses off the 3 year cycle.

[Tuna]

I'll be sad to see him go, he's been a great player for us over the years and we've seen his best years as a footballer in my opinion. Shame he's had a lot of injuries over the years but the time is right to move on. £9 million is good business.

[kingfox]

40 minutes ago, MGLCFC said:

I think Brownhill (if we are lucky enough to get him) will fill the KDH roll when we were last in the Championship.  Unfortunately, I can see Soumare been given Wilf's role.

I found the midfield to be an interesting dynamic on Sunday. I thoroughly expected Skipp and Soumare to play opposite roles, Skipp has been more associated in the 6 role, especially in his loan spell with Norwich. It was evident early on why Cifuentes went that way, Skipp was pressing like a madman, trying to win the ball high up the pitch, while Soumare sat for his in possession ability. 
 

If we get Brownhill, he can be used in a number of ways, but I would thoroughly expect him to be in a box-to-box role. As for Soumare replacing Wilf’s role, he just doesn’t have the attributes imo, during his time at Lille, Benjamin Andre was the one who did the defensive work, Soumare is just far too casual and lazy, our midfield needs an injection of energy. 

22 minutes ago, Bourbon Fox said:

 

Replace prime Wilf, the mobile defence-screening ball winner that anchored the side and allowed Tielemans to do his business? Sure

 

Replace the Wilf we have at the moment, who had limited success as a high 8 but doesn't really have the feet to play out, doesn't seem to own the tackling like he used to and doesn't have much pace? I don't think we need to.

 

Unfortunately we've got a glut of central midfielders but we don't have the box-crasher or the ball winner at the moment.

 

I'd like a midfielder who can give opponents a headache on the edge of both boxes.

 

 

Wilf’s stats on the defensive end still racked up quite well last season, but he was playing a bit differently to what we saw under Maresca. 
 

But I very much agree and stand along the same lines. We are missing that box-to box element in midfield along with some defensive nous, as I said earlier, Wilf’s replacement ideally needs to be capable of doing both. You have to replace what he gave to us, but just with a player who is actually more adequate at being box-to-box. 

[Claudio Fannieri]

3 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Upward of £9m, we have done really well on this deal

 

Seeing as it is going to be pretty much all profit as well it might mean we can keep one of Mads / Bilal

I have a feeling if we shift Wilf. JJ and maybe a couple of other deadwood players we may well have decided to keep Mads and Bilal, think a few will end up going out on loan. Think the only way we sell one of our Crown Jewels now is if we have get offered serious money 

[Foxes96]

17 minutes ago, FrankieADZ said:

 

Can’t we tempt Valencia or Betis with a Soumaré instead… similar profile & price to Wilf

Edited 5 August 2025 by Foxes96

[talking_goldfish]

20 minutes ago, FrankieADZ said:

 

If that fee is correct, then €9.5m is around £8.3m

[HankMarvin]

20 minutes ago, kingfox said:

I found the midfield to be an interesting dynamic on Sunday. I thoroughly expected Skipp and Soumare to play opposite roles, Skipp has been more associated in the 6 role, especially in his loan spell with Norwich. It was evident early on why Cifuentes went that way, Skipp was pressing like a madman, trying to win the ball high up the pitch, while Soumare sat for his in possession ability. 
 

If we get Brownhill, he can be used in a number of ways, but I would thoroughly expect him to be in a box-to-box role. As for Soumare replacing Wilf’s role, he just doesn’t have the attributes imo, during his time at Lille, Benjamin Andre was the one who did the defensive work, Soumare is just far too casual and lazy, our midfield needs an injection of energy. 

Wilf’s stats on the defensive end still racked up quite well last season, but he was playing a bit differently to what we saw under Maresca. 
 

But I very much agree and stand along the same lines. We are missing that box-to box element in midfield along with some defensive nous, as I said earlier, Wilf’s replacement ideally needs to be capable of doing both. You have to replace what he gave to us, but just with a player who is actually more adequate at being box-to-box. 

West Ham and Celtic now linked, we can’t pay him the sort of money others can 

[em9999]

How the hell have we managed to get 8.3 million

 

That's the best bit of business the club have done for a long time 

 

Well done I guess