‘Excellent’ £25m player now looks foolish for rejecting Leicester City transfer after latest update

Leicester City were unsuccessful in their pursuits of a number of transfer targets this summer as Steve Cooper looked to get his squad ready for the Premier League.

Steve Cooper did see Leicester City spend big to sign him Oliver Skipp and Bilal El Khannouss, whilst budget deals for Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid were also completed.

However, it was not until Deadline Day that Leicester finally signed a striker as moves for Santiago Gimenez, Adam Hlozek and Fotis Ioannidis all fell through before Odsonne Edouard joined on loan.

One of the targets that dominated the early stages of the transfer window was winger Matias Soule who eventually decided to join Roma from Juventus in a £25 million deal.

Matias Soule of AS Roma in action during the Serie A football match between Juventus FC and AS Roma. The match ended 0-0 tie.

Photo by Nicolò Campo/LightRocket via Getty Images

Matias Soule on reason he rejected Leicester City this summer

Soule impressed on loan at Frosinone last season, where manager Eusebio Di Francesco claimed he “doesn’t lack qualities and has excellent dribbling“.

With that in mind, when it became clear Juventus would look to sell this summer it prompted a scramble for the Argentine’s signature.

Leicester were one of the frontrunners to secure a big-money deal for Soule, but he recently revealed why he decided to reject the Foxes in favour of a move to Roma.

Soule told Corriere dello Sport: “Leicester wanted me so much, both the coach and the sporting director called me to convince me of their project.

“But then I felt the affection of [Daniele] De Rossi, of Roma, of the teammates who contacted me and I decided from that moment to say no to all the other clubs and to think only of Roma for all these reasons plus one.”

Roma sack Daniele De Rossi just weeks after Soule cited manager as reason for rejecting Leicester City

Daniele De Rossi, head coach of Roma, looks on prior to kick-off in the Serie A match between Genoa CFC and AS Roma at Stadio Luigi Ferraris on Sep...
Photo by Getty Images/Getty Images

Soule started the first three Serie A games of the season at Roma before being an unused substitute in a 1-1 draw away at Genoa last time out.

The 21-year-old is yet to score or assist for his new club as Roma have suffered a poor start to the season to leave them 16th in the table with just three points from four games.

This poor run saw De Rossi surprisingly sacked on Wednesday morning, despite the fact the club legend has only actually lost one of Roma’s four league matches so far, drawing three.

Given Soule cited De Rossi as the primary reason for rejecting a move to Leicester in the Premier League the winger may now be feeling somewhat foolish.

There are no guarantees that whoever Roma appoint as De Rossi’s successor will fancy Soule and, given how desperate Leicester were to sign him this summer, he could have been adored by the Foxes faithful.

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