We we all know that Ademola Lookman recently joined the club from RB Leipzig on loan, he has been lively and positive in his appearances. Last season we did see Cengiz Under not really getting a proper chance to play the role and have the impact we would have liked him to have.
Recently LCFC.com told their story about the first ever loan signing at Leicester, happening back in 1967 when Brian Williamson joined from Nottingham Forest to cover for an injured Peter Shilton. Williamson appeared seven times, five defeats and two wins was the outcome, with every City fan desperate to get the young and upcoming Shilton back in.
The next loan signing TCF do remember is another goalkeeper, John Farmer, coming in from Stoke City as a cover for Mark Wallington, back in December 1974. He played only two games, both defeats, against Everton and Middlesbrough. Mark Wallington returned and from January 1975 until March 1982, a spell of 294 league games, 22 FA Cup encounters and 15 League Cup ties (331 senior games in all) he is still today a record holder of the longest serving ever present.
The two goalkeepers Williamson and Farmer were not as highly rated as the third loan player to mention, Gerry Daly. Joined Leicester on loan from Coventry during the 1982-83 season, helping the club to promotion and really playing an important role in that happening. Daly played 17 games and scored 1 goal during his grand loan spell. Many believed that Gordon Milne would sign Daly permanent, but it never happened, and Leicester struggled in their first months of their return to the top flight not able to pick up a single point before the 7th game played. Leicester struggled but gained form later in the campaign with a certain Peter Eastoe joining on loan from West Bromwich. He played a key role during important games and we all know that the club survived with style after getting through that first fase. Peter Eastoe returned to Leicester for another loan spell in the season after and to our knowledge the only player to have been on loan at the club in two seperate loan spells over two seasons. Eastoe is listed with 12 appearances and 2 goals in his two periods.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn our list of loan signings we do have to mention Alan Smith, who was signed by Arsenal in the latter stages of the 1986/87 season, but loaned straight back to Leicester to try to help the club avoiding relegation, but still with Smith in the team relegation became a fact and he moved his full move to Arsenal in the summer of 1987.
John Buckley and Kjetil Osvold are the next two to mention playing at the club while in the second tier back in 1987. Buckley joined from Leeds in the spring of 1987, playing five games, one win, three losses and a draw. Kjetil Osvold, to our knowledge the first foreign player to appear on loan for the club, brough in from Nottingham Forest. Osvold made four appearances with a sad record of one draw and three defeats, late in the year of 1987.
Kevin MacDonald joined the club also late December 1987, making three appearances, all of them defeats. To our knowledge the first player to moved out and return with the Alan Smith affair a bit different as he never moved to Arsenal, before he was loaned back to the club. MacDonald is also a rare man as he also has appeared as caretaker manager for the club back in 1994, in an interim period between the departure of Brian Little and the arrival of Mark McGhee.
Lee Glover, Gary Charles, Kevin Campbell and David Langan er other players that in the late 80’s did have loan spells at the club and made a few appearances. Paul Moran, Terry Fenwick, Mike Hooper and Lawrie Madden are four other players that also must be mentioned. Moran and Fenwick joining from Tottenham, Hooper for Liverpool and Madden from Sheffield Wednesday.
Through the 90’s the club continued to loan in players with Paul Kerr joining from Port Vale in 1993-94, playing 7 games and scoring 2 goals in that special season winning promotion via play-off’s to help Leicester into the Premier League for the first time. Charlie Miller, joining from Rangers and Alan Fettis coming in from Hull City, were two other players coming in on loan in the 90’s. Muzzy Izzet joined from Chelsea, first on loan and later a permanent deal happened as he was a key to Leicester promotion in 1995-96, via play-off’s, and the first player to be signed after a loan spell at the club.
Embed from Getty ImagesCult hero Junior Lewis first joined on loan from Gillingham in 2000/01 and later signed a permanent deal. Marcus Bent is the next player on our list, coming in for a full season. He is the first full season loan signing at the club joining from Ipswich, playing 33 league games and scoring 9 goals during the 2003-04 season. Steffen Freund was another player coming in on loan that season, joining from Kaiserslautern.
Darren Kenton and Stephan Moore are the next two on our list, coming in for the 2004-05 season. Kenton joining from Southampton and Moore signed from Aston Villa. Rufus Brevett and Andy Welsh came in on loan in 2005-06, so did Ryan Smith joining from Arsenal. Mark Yeates, Geoff Horsfield, Jason Jarrett and Shaun Newton joined on loan in 2006-07.
in the next and most horrible season ever at Leicester, with relegation to the the 3rd tier, the 2007-08 season did see as many as nine players on loan. Gabor Bori, Zsolt Laczko, Lee Hendrie, Kelvin Etuhu, Ben Alnwick, Harry Worley, Elvis Hammond, Sergio Hellings and David Bell were all being brought in.
Embed from Getty ImagesDuring a grand 2008-09 season, with a straight promotion back to the 2nd tier, Nigel Pearson did depend on many loan signings adding players such as Astrid Ajdarevic, Tom Cleverley, Kerrea Gilbert, Jack Hobbs, David Martin, Wayne Brown, Mark Bunn, Tony Warner, David Stockdale and Jack Hobbs to the list of loan men. Back in the 2nd tier Nigel Pearson continued to add more loan players, seeing the likes of Martyn Waghorn, James Voughan, Jay Spearing, Alex Bruce and Ryan McGivern added to the list of Leicester loan signings.
Embed from Getty ImagesPaulo Sousa and Sven Goran Eriksson were the next men in charge. Bringing in Miguel Vitor, Yakubu, Ben Mee, Diomansy Kamara, Curtis Davies, Patrick Van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma and Kyle Naughton. The next loan men were Nathan Delfouneso, Michael Johnson and Gelson Fernandez.
With the return of Nigel Pearson during the 2011/12 season, the loan strategy continued as we did see players such as Harry Kane, Michael Keane and Jesse Lingard joining. At the time we knew they were talented but that all of them later would become full England internationals might be surprise. They are today top players at Tottenham, Everton and Man Utd.
Ignasi Miguel joined on loan from Arsenal in 2013-14. Nick Powell and Robert Huth were the two loan signings during the next season, helping the club regain their PL status. Nathan Dyer was the one single loan signing during the 2015/16 season and picked up a PL winners medal while at the club. Molla Vague were next with Alexandar Dragovic coming in the season after. Youri Tielemans joining on loan in January 2019.
Ryan Bennett was next coming in from Wolves and after him Cengiz Under joined on a season long loan in that previous year, making space for Ademola Lookman to join just after the start of the 2021/22 season.
Embed from Getty ImagesAdemola Lookman is filling the gap after Under, as loan signings tends to turn up at Leicester season in and season out, with a mixed outcome.
TCF would say Gerry Daly is the best loan signing done making a massive impact and close to him Youri Tielemans also made a fantastic performance. Daly contributed to a great promotion and was a player that made the team better. Tielemans made everything to the better with his presence in midfield and of course signing a permanent deal with the club. Another to mention is Michael Keane who joined the club on a season long loan. A also did well. Nathan Dyer is special with him being the only loan signing to pick up a PL winners medal at the club.
Nigel Pearson must also be given a few words as he depended heavily on loan signings to get the club back up to the top and we did see Kerrea Gilbert and Martyn Waghorn alongside goalkeeper David Martin as great additions.
When you do play in a tier lower than the top or you are struggling to get good permanent signings, then of course a loan move could be a solution.
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