Leicester City exit claim made ahead of January - it involves Wout Faes and £80k-a-week man | OneFootball

FLW's Leicester City fan pundit has given his verdict on which players the club should cash in on in January.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

After suffering relegation from the Premier League last season, it has been a positive start to life back in the Championship for Leicester City.

Leicester took until the end of June to announce the departure of manager Ruud van Nistelrooy following relegation, and they did not appoint former Queens Park Rangers head coach Marti Cifuentes as his replacement until the middle of July, with the delay attracting significant criticism from supporters.

Despite coming in late and being unable to spend in the summer transfer window, Cifuentes has made a strong start to his tenure at the King Power Stadium, and his side currently sit third in the Championship table after picking up 16 points from their first nine league games.

However, given the club's well-documented financial problems, and with the threat of a points deduction still looming, Leicester may need to cash in on some of their stars in January in order to raise funds, which could prove disruptive to any promotion push.

Leicester City told to sell Wout Faes and Boubakary Soumare in January

When asked which players he could see the club cashing in on in January, FLW's Leicester City fan pundit Louchlainn Martin named defender Wout Faes and midfielder Boubakary Soumare as two possible departures.

Faes, who joined the Foxes from Reims in September 2022 for a fee of £15 million, initially struggled for game time at the start of the season under Cifuentes, but he has now started each of the last four games.

Soumare made the move to the King Power Stadium from Lille for a fee of around £17 million in July 2021, but he has had a turbulent spell in the East Midlands, and he spent the 2023-24 season on loan at Spanish side Sevilla.

The 26-year-old had been a regular starter for much of this season, but Jordan James has been preferred to him in the last two games, and Louchlainn predicted that he could follow Faes out of the exit door in the winter window.

"With the January window a couple of months away, I think the majority of Leicester fans would probably agree that Wout Faes should be the player that we try to cash in on," Louchlainn said.

"I think you'll get a lot of different opinions as to how much we would get for him.

"The problem with Faes is that he's so up and down.

"In the Premier League, it was certainly just downs, downs, downs.

"There was really not many good performances at all.

"I think he's proven that he's not a Premier League defender.

"In the Championship, he performs like he's one of the best in the division, so if we can keep him playing well in the next few weeks, I'm sure there will be a club in Europe who are willing to take him for a cut-price.

"I would imagine we'd only get between £5 million and £8 million for him.

"We also have Boubakary Soumare, who is in the last year of his deal.

"He had a decent start to the season, but he's now been dropped in favour of Jordan James.

"He was one of our big signings from a few years back in one of the summer windows, and he's just not really hit the heights we would have wanted.

"I think it's time to cash in on him if we get interest because we have good options in midfield.

"I know Leicester have been linked with Glen Kamara, so if we can get Kamara in on the cheap and get Soumare gone, and get in a few million for him, then I think that's probably a good move by the club."

Wout Faes and Boubakary Soumare exits could make sense for Leicester City in January

As Faes and Soumare have been regulars for Leicester this season, Cifuentes may be reluctant to lose the pair in January, but with the club still needing to balance the books, offloading them could be a sensible move from a financial point of view.

According to Capology, Faes is estimated to earn £50,000-a-week at the King Power Stadium, while Soumare is thought to take home a staggering £80,000-a-week, so their departures would help to reduce the Foxes' wage bill significantly.

Faes was linked with Besiktas and Wolfsburg in the summer, so there could be further interest in his services in January, while he has been left out of the last two Belgium squads by Rudi Garcia, who warned in August that the 27-year-old will need to find a new club if he is to regain his place in the international fold.

While Faes and Soumare are more than capable performers at Championship level, both have failed to prove themselves in the Premier League, and having been part of two relegations during their time at the club, Leicester supporters may not be too disappointed to see either of the duo move on.