Mads Hermansen is probably Leicester City’s most profitable asset.
Signed for just £6.5m in 2023, the Dane has since shown his potential to be a top-level modern-day goalkeeper, one who is composed with the ball at his feet and keeps it out the net with their hands.
Selling a player to a big-six club is the norm for City and none of their current players look more likely to make that leap this summer than Hermansen.
However, the above sentence could be said with much greater confidence a few months ago.
Prior to his injury, Hermansen was producing world-class displays to give City a fighting chance of points.
Now, that’s not totally the case. Since his return from six weeks out with a groin injury, Hermansen and City have lost all seven games and the 24-year-old’s shot-stopping hasn’t been at the same level.
It may have been hidden because it feels like the defending in front of him hasn't been up to scratch, but the numbers lay bare that he has suffered a downturn.
Prior to his injury, Hermansen’s save rate for the season was at 69 per cent. Since his return, it is 49 per cent.
It's a simplistic way of viewing it, but if Hermansen had maintained his save rate from before his injury, he'd have conceded 11 goals in his last seven games, rather than 18. It's a big difference.
It means the wait for a clean sheet now stands at 25 games in all competitions, and it’s a run that perhaps gives the impression that City’s defence has not improved under van Nistelrooy.
It's marginal, but they are actually giving up fewer shots on target per match now than they were prior to Hermansen’s lay-off.
The goalkeeper’s downturn in form is not something that has escaped Hermansen’s notice. After the 4-0 defeat to Brentford, he said: “Of course I enjoy to play but I also want to contribute to the team with saves that get us points and I’m obviously not doing that at the moment.”
Rustiness is common when a player spends a period of time on the sidelines, but it would be expected that Hermansen would be back to his usual self by now.
It doesn’t feel like he's been brought back early from injury either. Van Nistelrooy spoke regularly about how he was not willing to risk Hermansen while his groin was still causing him trouble.
In any case, Hermansen hasn’t been poor enough that dropping him is a sensible suggestion or a realistic possibility. He’s still been good in moments, not least in becoming the first goalkeeper to save a Cole Palmer penalty.
But while the timing of Hermansen’s return was unfortunate for Jakub Stolarczyk, who played an integral role in City’s win at Tottenham in his last game as the stand-in, he knew the score. Hermansen is the number one.
It will be that way for the remainder of the season. Whether he will still be here next season is another matter.
Now the question is whether Hermansen’s recent form will harm clubs’ interest in him, or harm his value.
It shouldn’t. A few years of promise, both with City and Brondby, isn’t eradicated by a few games where he’s not hit his previous heights.
Plus, there aren’t many first-choice goalkeepers under the age of 25 playing in Europe’s biggest leagues. In fact, Hermansen is one of only two in the Premier League, along with Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen, one of just 14 across the 96 clubs in Europe’s top five leagues.
The most significant barrier to a big move would be whether the continent’s wealthiest clubs need a new, young goalkeeper.
Chelsea seemed like an obvious destination but the talk coming out of Stamford Bridge is that, despite Enzo Maresca not being settled on either Robert Sanchez and Filip Jorgensen, they won’t seek a new goalkeeper this summer.
Many of the other top clubs have established number ones or succession plans in place. Two of the under-25 goalkeepers in La Liga this season are Giorgi Mamardashvili and Karl Hein, who are on loan from Liverpool and Arsenal respectively.
If City are relegated, they won’t be short of suitors for Hermansen, as there will be plenty of mid-rank sides hoping City’s need to balance their budget will lead to a cut-price deal.
For now, the hope is that Hermansen rediscovers his form from the start of the season and helps City towards a miraculous turnaround in their campaign.
City would rather be weighing up his future as a Premier League club.
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