Five Leicester City transfers that baffled supporters

No matter how much detail goes into the scouting, there is no guarantee that a signing will fit in at Leicester City and make an impact.

Usually, there are good intentions behind a deal. But sometimes, transfers simply don't make sense, and it becomes no clearer when the player in question actually gets onto the pitch. We asked City fans to name the signings from recent years that left them scratching their heads, and have whittled it down to a top five.

City were very busy on the transfer front under Sven-Goran Eriksson, the former England boss bringing in 25 players in around 12 months. One of those was Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo, the man who had thwarted the Three Lions, and City striker Darius Vassell, in the quarter-final shoot-out at Euro 2004.

In January 2011, Eriksson wanted a goalkeeper. Chris Kirkland’s loan spell had been ended by a back injury and the Swede was seemingly unconvinced by Chris Weale, so he bought in his one-time foe.

Then-34-year-old Ricardo had not played a competitive game for more than 18 months and had been failing to make the squad for Real Betis in the Spanish second tier shortly before he became a free agent. It was clear that Ricardo was rusty.

Although he conceded just nine goals in eight Championship games, he was unconvincing, and was dropped for Weale for the conclusion to the season. For the final three games, he didn’t even make the bench.

In central midfield, Eriksson had Andy King, Richie Wellens, Matt Oakley, Yuki Abe, Neil Danns, Gelson Fernandes, Moreno and Franck Moussa as potential options, and still he wanted more. And so he brought in his former Manchester City prodigy Michael Johnson.

Admittedly, the former England Under-21 international had looked like a star in the