Bilal El Khannouss made a late move to Leicester City over the summer and has so far struggled to impress.
After winning promotion to the Premier League, Leicester City were forced to part ways with one of their top players, selling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea early in the summer.
The midfielder provided plenty of goals and assists in the Foxes’ promotion-winning campaign and replacing him proved to be a tough task.
Following links to several players and with the transfer window drawing to a close, Leicester paid £21m for attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannous from Belgian outfit Genk.
The 20-year-old has not had the most prolific start since moving to the King Power Stadium, however.
El Khannouss was given an ‘underwhelming’ verdict on his full Leicester debut against Everton last month.
And along with Jordan Ayew and another summer addition, Bobby De Cordova-Reid, El Khannouss has not been good enough for Leicester this season.
Leicester City given Bilal El Khannouss prediction
Prior to signing for Leicester, the midfielder spent four years at Genk following a transfer from RSC Anderlecht’s youth ranks in 2019.
El Khannouss featured 94 times for his previous club, scoring four goals and providing 14 assists in all competitions.
During his time in Belgium, he worked closely with former Genk coach and assistant manager Michel Ribeiro.
And now, as per The Athletic, Riberio has backed El Khannouss to adapt to the Premier League and have a very successful career.
He said: “He is ready for the Premier League, 100 percent. He is ready to play and he has shown he can adapt.
“He played in a World Cup bronze-medal match against Croatia (in 2022) at the age of 18 and has played in the Olympics. He plays without fear.
“Almost three years ago, I said that Bilal will be the next guy coming through — he will have a very successful career.
“He is always open to learning and is an unbelievably hard worker. He always wanted to do extra work after training sessions.
“He’s always there to create. The level at Leicester City will be a little higher but he will adapt well in time.”
Bilal El Khannouss may be dropped for Leicester City vs Nottingham Forest
Leicester return to Premier League action on Friday evening with a meeting against Nottingham Forest.
El Khannouss started the club’s last outing when they came from 2-0 down to beat Southampton 3-2.
However, the Morocco international was hooked after 69 minutes and replaced by Harry Winks.
Now, Steve Cooper has been urged to start Winks against Nottingham Forest after his key role in the comeback.
This could see El Khannouss dropped to the bench later this week with Oliver Skipp partnering Winks at the base of the Foxes’ midfield instead.
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