It’s been a fantastic season at Championship level for Leicester City and the Foxes are in prime position to make an immediate return to the Premier League.
The East Midlands-based club are top of the league and it would take a disastrous end to the season for them to somehow miss out on a return to the top division of English football.
Enzo Maresca has several key players who have remained with the club despite relegation to the Championship, one of whom is centre-back Wout Faes.
The 25-year-old Belgian international was linked with a January move to Italy, by Tutto Mercato, with the likes of Atalanta, Bologna, Fiorentina, and Torino all said to be keen on a move for the defender.
However, Faes remained at the King Power Stadium in what was a huge boost to their promotion efforts.
The central defender made the move to England in the summer of 2022 after joining from French club Reims for a fee of £15 million.
At that point in time, the Foxes looked to be a very stable Premier League club and no one would have envisaged the club being relegated that season.
However, that’s exactly what transpired, and the Foxes were condemned to their first season in the second tier since 2014.
After Faes’ move in the summer of 2022, the centre-back started every single Premier League game he was available for, making 31 league appearances in total.
The three clubs relegated from the Premier League last season could well be the three clubs promoted this season
With the club relegated to the second tier, many people expected Faes to depart in the summer alongside other high-profile players such as James Maddison and Youri Tielmans. However, he’s remained at the club and has become one of their pivotal players this term.
In total, Faes has made 30 appearances in all competitions this season and has helped the Foxes keep ten Championship clean sheets.
He’s formed an excellent partnership with Jannik Vestergaard, with the pair looking a level above the second tier.
Faes is a Premier League-standard player currently playing in the Championship, but it shouldn’t be too long until he’s back where he belongs in the top flight of English football.
Faes remaining with Leicester means there’s no doubt that they’ll be promoted
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Had Leicester had a poor January transfer window and lost key players such as Faes, you can imagine that nerves could have started to set in amongst the club’s fanbase.
However, their squad has remained intact and Faes is seemingly happy in the East Midlands with no suggestion that he wanted to leave the club to move to Italy.
Leicester have been relentless under Maresca and even when they don’t perform particularly well, they still manage to win games with relative ease.
You feel as if Leicester have barely needed to get out of second gear at times this season, and they have a squad that’s more than capable of remaining in the Premier League when they’re promoted.
As for Faes, the player signed a five-year deal when he made the move from Reims in the summer of 2022, meaning he’s contracted until 2027.
This will be music to the ears of Leicester supporters, and they’ll be very confident of keeping the Belgian international for the foreseeable future.
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