Leicester City summer transfer window preview: Goalkeepers

With the season over and summer upon us, the transfer window approaches. With it, as always, will be a non-stop stream of rumours, in which chaos reigns and most players will be linked with most teams. Some of those will inevitably come true though, so we’re taking an early look at which players Leicester City are looking at, who might be leaving this summer and if any of those deals are likely to go through. We’re starting with the Goalkeepers, and will cover the rest of the team in the next few days.

OUT

Any discussion of this position for the Foxes of course has to start with Kasper Schmeichel, a huge presence at the back for years now. His seemingly unbeatable Champions League performances have lead to interest from some big teams, notably his old team Manchester City and his father’s Manchester United.

Fortunately for us, City have already made their move for a goalkeeper, having apparently agreed a £35m deal for Benfica’s Ederson. The only remaining interest then would be from United, but any move there would first hinge on the sale of David de Gea. His possible transfer to Real Madrid has seemed likely for a while now, but manager Zinedine Zidane and captain Sergio Ramos both recently publicly defended their own keeper Keylor Navas, denying interest in de Gea. That would be great news for us.

The Dane’s backup, Ron-Robert Zieler, seems much more likely to leave. A free transfer last summer, he struggled for game time this year, which seems fair to me because he was Kasper Schmeichel’s backup. He doesn’t agree and is trying to engineer a move back to Germany. A loan seems likely.

IN

If Schmeichel were to go, expect us to make a serious move for Sunderland’s Jordan Pickford. In what will become a theme of the summer window, he put in a string of great individual performances made futile by a terrible team and proved himself far too good for the Championship. He will move this summer and there will be plenty of competition for him. Hopefully we won't have to join in.

There hasn't been much speculation about backup goalkeepers. I can’t imagine why.

We have been mentioned, alongside several other teams, as possibly interested in Manchester United goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, who impressed on loan at Aston Villa in the Championship. We do have a good history with former United youth players, but this would be a definite backup move/one for the future.

Speaking of which, the Foxes also have the current Denmark under 21’s keeper Daniel Iversen on the books. The 19 year old has spent the last 18 months with the club’s development squad and may be ready to push through to a backup job with the first team.

Any big movement in goal is ultimately going to depend on a Schmeichel transfer, which probably now also depends on de Gea. The Dane leaving would be a huge blow for the team and competition for his replacement would be very high, but thankfully it’s looking less and less likely every day.