Exclusive: Leicester City warned to prepare for Abdul Fatawu transfer action | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has provided his verdict as to whether Leicester City should be concerned about January interest in Abdul Fatawu.

EFL expert and Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has urged Leicester to prepare for potential interest this January in Ghana international and star player Abdul Fatawu following a promising start to the season.

After a disappointing relegation from the Premier League last season, where neither Steve Cooper nor Ruud van Nistelrooy were able to keep the Foxes afloat, Leicester are aiming to bounce back to the top flight at the first time of asking.

Just two seasons ago, the club was under the leadership of current Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, where the Foxes would storm to the Championship title. However, Chelsea came calling that summer, and Maresca left the club scrambling for a new manager to begin their Premier League campaign.

A lot has happened since then, and now back in the Championship with former Queens Park Rangers boss Marti Cifuentes at the helm, Foxes fans will be hopeful of a strong campaign at the King Power.

It was a quiet summer in terms of incomings at the club, with Asmir Begovic on a free transfer being the club's only permanent signing, while Jordan James, Julian Carranza and Aaron Ramsey all joining the club on loan.

Having lost the likes of Kasey McAteer, Jamie Vardy and Bilal El Khannouss, it was imperative that Leicester kept a hold of Ghanaian forward Fatawu, who has made a promising beginning to the new campaign.

Lee Hendrie makes Abdul Fatawu claim amid potential January interest in the Leicester City winger

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Hendrie has urged Leicester to "brace themselves" for potential interest in Fatawu, with Premier League clubs circling the Ghanaian winger.

Hendrie said: "He's started the season well, he's the kind of player you can see one of those Premier League clubs maybe taking him.

"The position he plays and the way he's started, you know he's going to be a real big player for Leicester.

"You do look at the January window, and if he continues to have the success up to then, you fear that he's going to end up getting his head turned by the potential of a Premier League club coming in.

"Particularly the style of Premier League football, using wide players, fast, skillful, effective players like him.

"So they [Leicester] will really have to brace themselves for that because I think that will definitely happen if he continues to have this great form."

Having spent much of last season out with a cruciate ligament injury, Fatawu is back fit and firing for the Foxes, having netted two goals and grabbing an assist in the opening five games of the Championship season.

The 21-year-old former Sporting CP winger was the subject of a £28 million bid from newly-promoted Premier League side Sunderland, with the Black Cats having made a serious offer to bring Fatawu to Wearside.

However, the move never materialised, and manager Cifuentes later came out and told BBC Sport: "We want to keep key players, and Abdul is one".

Fatawu has begun the new campaign brightly after recovering from a devastating injury, and Leicester will be hoping he can replicate the form he showed in the second tier just two seasons ago, where he scored six times and grabbed 13 assists in 40 Championship games.

January will prove to be a huge test for Leicester, who, although they are under no pressure to raise funds following a fire sale this summer, will find it tough to turn down an offer for Fatawu should the bid be too good to turn down.