£50k-per-week Leicester City player has to go down as a disaster signing if Marti Cifuentes trend continues | OneFootball

Oliver Skipp is hardly justifying the financial side of his Leicester City spell at present

It has been an intriguing start to the Marti Cifuentes era at Leicester City, with the Foxes not exactly looking their strongest in recent encounters.

The Blues oversaw a plethora of changes to their squad and in the dugout throughout the summer whilst the cloud of a potential points deduction for alleged PSR breaches hangs over the club.

In recent times, the tag of being extremely shrewd in the transfer market has well and truly left the East Midlands side, with the majority of dealings being filed in the 'miss' category rather than 'hit', and that was certainly evident last season as the club were relegated back to the Championship with a whimper under Steve Cooper and the largely unpopular Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Cifuentes, who developed a reputation for being a steady pair of hands during an 18-month stint in charge of Queens Park Rangers, has since taken over and been exactly that for Leicester, although it's fair to say the Spaniard is still demanding more from the pool of talent that remains at the King Power Stadium after four successive draws against Oxford United, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion and Wrexham.

With the summer transfer window closing at the beginning of last month, it has allowed the 43-year-old to begin moulding a settled side after continuous talk over potential incomings and high-profile deadlines right up to the transfer deadline.

Being one of the three newly-relegated sides, albeit there is still a cloud of uncertainty hanging over the club, the financial resources on offer at the King Power are still far greater than most divisional rivals.

However, that can also have negative implications, with one midfielder's current predicament epitomising exactly why.

Oliver Skipp is hardly justifying £50,000 per week wage at Leicester City

Oliver Skipp had previously been touted as one of this country's brightest midfield prospects after coming through the Tottenham Hotspur academy, eventually going on to make 106 appearances for the North London side, as well as having an underrated role in Norwich City's second tier title-winning campaign in 2020/21 whilst on loan at Carrow Road.

It was reported in 2023 that the central midfielder was set to become part of the senior leadership team under Ange Postecoglou. However, less than a year later, the ex-Under-21 international moved to Leicester for an initial £20m plus a potential further £5m in add-ons as the Foxes looked to re-establish themselves among the elite.

Since then, his time at the King Power couldn't have been more frustrating, with only 10 of his 24 league appearances coming from the starting XI under both Cooper and Van Nistelrooy, whilst also being an unused substitute on an even-greater 11 occasions.

Despite such frustrations, Skipp was offered a clean slate with the appointment of Cifuentes, who gave him the nod for the opening game of the season against Sheffield Wednesday, before going on to start three of the following four encounters against Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City and Oxford United.

Skipp was rather impressive against Birmingham in particular, hardly allowing the reliable partnership of Seung-Ho Paik and Tomoki Iwata any time on the ball, as well as breaking up play and progressing it forward to the likes of Louis Page, Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi regularly.

However, it must be said that, since that 2-0 success on August 29th and on the whole, Skipp has largely failed to justify the aforementioned hefty investment and his ESTIMATED wage of £50,000 - a base figure which could run up until the summer of 2029.

Oliver Skipp will hope to prove Marti Cifuentes wrong amid strong midfield competition

Despite drawing against West Brom and Wrexham, it must be said that for large spells of both encounters, particularly in the first half, Cifuentes' side had been in control of proceedings down to the double-pivot of Harry Winks alongside either Boubakary Soumare or Jordan James.

Skipp's former Spurs teammate is, undoubtedly, one of the best in the division when it comes to technical ability, whilst his combativeness has also been key in instances.

Meanwhile, the Spaniard heaped significant praise on the Rennes loanee, not just for his goal which capped off a fine 13-pass move, but for his all-round performance against the Red Dragons.

"He can play a little bit on the base, a little bit on the pocket, but he's got this energy, this capacity to get in the second line, and hopefully that's the first of many," Cifuentes said of James.

Therefore, with Leicester losing control of proceedings and subsequently seeing Nathan Broadhead equalise 13 minutes from time, Skipp didn't exactly do his chances of regaining a space in the starting lineup for Saturday's trip to Swansea any favours.

Of course, with it being an arduous season in which three-game weeks are regular, Cifuentes cannot completely ignore the qualities which the midfielder can bring when full of confidence. However, it's hard to say much more than the transfer is looking like a serious mishap with each passing week when taking the finances and lack of recent minutes into account.