The best outcome for Leicester City over the next few weeks, looking at the players they could bring in and those they should say goodbye to before the window closes
Jordan Blackwell
11:21, 12 Jan 2026
Jack Fletcher, linked with Leicester City earlier in the season, in action for Manchester United
View Image
Jack Fletcher, linked with Leicester City earlier in the season, in action for Manchester United(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
A third of the way through the January transfer window and Leicester City are one player down.
Julian Carranza has moved on and his potential replacement, Michail Antonio, picked up an injury in training, with City choosing not to go ahead with a deal for the free agent striker.
And so, thus far, there’s been no strengthening of Marti Cifuentes’ squad. Previously sounding hopeful of an arrival or two, Cifuentes has spoken with a little more urgency of late, saying his team needs “numbers”.
He will have a plan for how the next few weeks could pan out and the deals that he would like to happen. Here, we go through the dream outcome for City.
Winks and Faes sold
Not every player who wanted to leave City in the summer did so. Everybody that stayed at the King Power Stadium remained in the fold initially, but that has now changed.
Since the start of December, Harry Winks has not appeared in a City squad. In that time, Wout Faes has not made a single appearance, and now isn’t making the bench either.
Cifuentes has not named names but he has said that he wants to finish the January window with a squad that is “100 per cent committed”.
If he felt Winks and Faes were, he’d be including them in his squad. So they’re left sitting around and that’s a waste. There’s no point City having senior professionals on the books but not in contention.
The pair need to be sold this month so that they, City and Cifuentes can move on.
Striker arrives
It’s not going to be Antonio, but City need a striker to come in. Jordan Ayew and Patson Daka have both scored over the past two games, but, on the whole, they have not offered enough of a goal threat this season.
With City working to the budget restrictions that saw their summer business limited to loans and free transfers, bringing in a player on loan from the Premier League looks to be the best bet.
There’s two ways they could go. If they want a player with experience of finding the net at Championship level, then Joel Piroe could be the man to target, given he’s not playing all that often at Leeds.
If they want to go for someone more raw, but a player who has shown signs of knowing where the net is, then Chelsea’s Shim Mheuka may be worth a shot. The 18-year-old has scored 17 goals in 15 games for Chelsea Under-21s this season.
Attacking midfielder comes in
With Aaron Ramsey out injured again, Cifuentes wants City to strengthen in attacking midfield. Of his fit midfield options, he only sees Bobby De Cordova-Reid as an out-and-out number 10.
Again, the loan market would need to be used. City could probably take a gamble on a player here, knowing they’re bringing in a player to provide competition for De Cordova-Reid rather than necessarily start ahead of him every week.
Manchester United’s Jack Fletcher was reportedly on City’s radar earlier this season and while he’s been featuring for the Red Devils of late, with his dad Darren as interim boss, there might be a possibility he will be loaned out for the second half of the season.
Across the city, another 18-year-old in Divine Mukasa might be worth a look. He’s played a handful of games for Manchester City this season, including 45 minutes in their 10-1 rout of Exeter at the weekend, but he might lose his spot on the bench again when Omar Marmoush returns from the Africa Cup of Nations.
Last season, for Man City’s Under-18s, he registered an astonishing 17 goals and 21 assists in 27 games. He might be ready for more regular first-team football.
One in, one out in defensive midfield
Cifuentes seems satisfied with his four midfield options in what he calls the number six and number eight roles, with Oliver Skipp and Boubakary Soumare for the deeper of the two positions, and then Jordan James and Louis Page to play box-to-box.
While they have those four, City don’t need any deals there. However, Cifuentes has admitted he “cannot predict” Soumare’s future with just six months left on his deal and with Monaco circling.
The best option would perhaps be to sell Soumare and make a small fee on the Frenchman and then to bring in Dan Neil on loan from Sunderland.
The Black Cats’ captain as they earned promotion last season, he’s been linked to City amid his struggles to get Premier League minutes. He’d bring the qualities City would miss through Winks too.
City would only need a loan for Neil for now as Sammy Braybrooke may be ready to join their first-team squad in the summer.
James signing to allow for left-back loan
There’s no limit on the number of loan signings a Championship club can make as long as they can register them all in their 25-man squad, and as long as there are no more than five in a matchday squad.
So, with James, Ramsey and then the three arrivals mentioned above, that might be all City can do. But then they’d be going without a new left-back.
It feels like they need one to make this a perfect window. Luke Thomas has had a tough patch of form, Hamza Choudhury didn’t deputise that well for him, and Bade Aluko is seen as a right-back by Cifuentes.
There is a way City could bring a left-back in, and that would be to make the James deal permanent. Cifuentes said they had a plan for the on-loan Welshman, perhaps teasing a transfer from Rennes.
It would make sense as a deal to do if City can stump up the cash. He’s not only been one of their best players this season, but has the potential to get much better.
In that case, City would then be able to loan a left-back without needing to leave any loanees out of their matchday squad.
Harry Amass was doing well on loan from Manchester United at Sheffield Wednesday before he was recalled. City could offer him a better club to play for.
Meanwhile, Watford have been linked with Bournemouth’s Julio Soler, who is not featuring all that often for the Cherries. Perhaps that would be a deal City could try to hijack.
Fatawu stays
He would make City plenty of cash, but now is not the window for Abdul Fatawu to leave.
He is their star man, the one capable of producing something special. If they have any hopes of a late play-off push, then they need to keep him.
Article continues below
Unless City really are desperate for the money and a Premier League club is willing to pay £35m or more for the winger, then City should hold on to Fatawu.
The latest Leicester City headlines sent straight to your phone
Get the latest Leicester City news sent straight to your phone by joining our Foxes WhatsApp community. Just click here and select ‘Join Community’ to get started.
No one will be able to see your personal information in the community and you will only receive messages from the LeicestershireLive sports team. We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest City stories. All you need to participate in this free service is to have WhatsApp on your phone.
If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and then 'Exit Group'. It's as simple as that. You can read our Privacy Notice HERE.
What's the deal you want to see City complete? Click HERE to have your say.