Mads Hermansen departed Leicester City recently for West Ham United, but his debut did not go to plan.
Leicester City have endured a testing start to the 2025/26 season, which has been made even more difficult for Marti Cifuentes given the Foxes’ summer transfer business.
Leicester started the season with a comeback win against Sheffield Wednesday, but they suffered a surprising defeat to Preston North End at the weekend.
Several high-profile figures have left Leicester in recent weeks, with Conor Coady joining Wrexham and Wilfried Ndidi signing for Besiktas.
As well as those two, number one goalkeeper Mads Hermansen left Leicester to make an instant return to the Premier League with West Ham, but his Hammers debut did not go as the Dane would have hoped.
Mads Hermansen reacts after conceding a goal against Sunderland for West Ham United in a Premier League game
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
Ex-Leicester City goalkeeper Mads Hermansen had a disastrous debut at West Ham
West Ham signed Hermansen earlier this month in an £18m move, which was slammed by the Foxes’ faithful for being too low.
The Dane looked back fondly on his two-season stint with the Foxes in Hermansen’s parting Leicester message, but the 25-year-old will be desperate to forget his West Ham debut.
Hermansen and his new West Ham teammates travelled to newly promoted Sunderland on Premier League opening weekend, and were met by a raucous Stadium of Light atmosphere.
After heading into half-time at a goalless stalemate, Regis Le Bris’ Black Cats put three past Hermansen in the second half to secure three points at the expense of the Hammers.
Unfortunately for the former Foxes star, it was an afternoon to forget, after he shipped three goals and made a calamitous error for Sunderland’s third.
Hermansen started the clash in solid form by keeping out a venomous early shot from Habib Diarra, but in the second half it was a different story.
Headed goals from Eliezer Mayenda and Dan Ballard set Sunderland on course for victory, before substitute Wilson Isidor rubbed salt in Hermansen’s Hammers wounds with a low strike that the Dane ought to have saved comfortably.
Hermansen’s glaring error for Isidor’s goal capped off an arduous afternoon for the Dane on Wearside, who was thrust in at the deep end by Graham Potter.
Mads Hermansen takes a goal kick during Leicester City vs Fiorentina
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Mads Hermansen was thrown in at the deep end by Graham Potter
Although £18m is a sizeable outlay from West Ham for the shot-stopper, it would have been wise from Potter to bed Hermansen into his side slowly, rather than thrusting him into the limelight straight away.
With Sunderland’s more than 3000-day absence from the top flight, the atmosphere was always going to be electric at the Stadium of Light, and the deafening noise from the sold-out stands clearly affected Hermansen.
Statistic Mads Hermansen vs Sunderland
Saves 2
Goals conceded 3
Shots faced 5
Long ball accuracy 45.5%
Mads Hermansen’s statistics on debut for West Ham vs Sunderland.
Experienced West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola would have been better equipped to deal with the opening day clash, which will have set Hermansen’s confidence back severely.
From a Foxes perspective, Jakub Stolarczyk has replaced Hermansen as the Leicester number one, but he has equally struggled after conceding five goals from his three outings in all competitions so far this season.