Everton sold Tom Cannon for £7.5 million despite him carrying a long-term injury.
Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca has admitted that they signed the striker knowing that he had a injury problem.
Cannon only managed four senior appearances for Everton since graduating from their academy, however his brilliant loan spell at Preston North End led to huge interest in his signature this summer.
After netting eight goals in the second half of last season for the Lilywhites, a number of Championship clubs were battling it out to sign Cannon on loan.
While he looked set to rejoin Preston for most of the transfer window, Leicester eventually won the race and opted to splash £7.5m to sign him permanently.However, Cannon is yet to make his debut for the Foxes and Maresca has now revealed exactly why.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, Maresca said: “Because it is a long-term investment it doesn’t mean we don’t need him now.
“But we prefer to be careful with that and make all the checks that we need to do.
“We found a problem when he signed. At the moment he is not even training with us, so it will be quite long-term I guess.
“We still don’t know how long. He didn’t train any sessions with us.”
It has been reported that Cannon has suffered a stress fracture in his back, which reportedly takes a minimum of six to eight weeks to heal. This means he may not return to action till November/December.
Did Everton do well to earn £7.5m from Cannon’s exit?
It now seems pretty impressive that Everton were able to claim such a hefty fee for an inexperienced striker, especially given his lengthy injury.
However, Leicester clearly have enough firepower to keep them going until he returns and the Toffees could well regret selling him if he helps the club return to the Premier League.
He is clearly a huge talent and could well have been an important player at Goodison Park in the future, though at least Sean Dyche’s side included a sell-on clause in the deal.
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