Major red flag raised amid Turki Alalshikh, Leicester City takeover talks | OneFootball

FLW's Leicester City fan pundit has highlighted his concerns with the Neil Lal consortium's attempt to buy the club

Leicester City could be set for a change in owner in the coming months amid takeover links with Turki Alalshikh.

It’s been reported by Talksport that a consortium led by Neil Lal are trying to bring the Saudi Arabian on board as part of their bid to buy the League One side.

The Foxes have endured a steep decline in recent years, going from regular Premier League side to competing in the third tier under Russell Martin.

The club are hoping to contend for promotion to the Championship this season, but it’s been a difficult opening few weeks.

It’s been claimed that there are three parties interested in a potential takeover at Leicester, with a deadline set of 14 September for initial proposals.

And it's emerged that Turki Alalshikh could be involved with Lal's attempt to buy the club just weeks after the collapse of his bid to buy Derby County.

Leicester City warned against Neil Lal consortium

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When asked about this potential bid to buy the club, FLW’s Leicester fan pundit Jamie Preston claimed that the warnings of Derby are an obvious red flag, but that there are even bigger concerns from the consortium itself.

He believes that their failure to even get the name of the club right is a major reason why he doesn’t trust them, even if now is the right time for a change in ownership at the King Power Stadium.

“Yes, we probably desperately need a new owner to change the direction the club is going in,” Preston told Football League World.

“What the biggest red flag is not just the Derby County takeover that he did a U-turn on, but he doesn’t even call us by our proper name.

“Our name is Leicester City Football Club, not Leicester Football Club, as he talked about a few times with Ben Jacobs.

“So, I’m a bit wary of someone not knowing our full, proper name.

“If he’s buying the club, he should be looking into it, and start calling it by the proper name.

“I think that’s going to cause a lot of problems for fans wanting him to take over the club.

“Hopefully, there are other people or consortiums.

“If somebody can’t get the name of the club right in the very first interview, yeah that’s a big red flag unfortunately.

“So, hopefully it falls through and somebody else is in the wings wanting to take over, because the deadline is coming up on us very shortly.”

Leicester were active in the summer transfer market, adding 14 players to Martin’s first team squad following their relegation from the Championship.

The Foxes signed the likes of Ilari Kangasniemi, Liam Cullen, Admir Bristric, Emil Riis, Franco Ravizzoli, Warren O’Hara and Wes Burns on a permanent basis.

Conor Chaplin, John Lundstrum and Alex McCarthy have also arrived as free agents, while loan deals for Harry Howell, Tommy Watson, Christian McFarlane and Kamari Doyle were all secured as well.

Leicester’s rise and fall

Leicester were bought by a consortium led by Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha in August 2010, and the club moved into the hands of his son Aiyawatt following his death in 2018.

During their time in charge of the Foxes, the club returned to the Premier League in 2014, and remarkably won the title in 2016.

Leicester also won the FA Cup for the first time in their history in 2021 under Brendan Rodgers, but were relegated to the Championship by 2023.

Now in 2026, they are competing in League One and will be hoping that they can return to at least the second tier as quickly as possible.

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Grass wouldn’t necessarily be greener under Neil Lal

Lal’s comments about Leicester have not engendered him to the fans, and that puts him on the backfoot immediately if he wants to move forward with a takeover of the club.

Bringing Alalshikh into the process would only harm that image further, as he has earned a reputation among English football fans as someone that can’t be trusted.

The boxing promoter was linked with deals to buy Bristol City and Derby that both failed to come to fruition.

It’s apparent that now is the time for change for Leicester, but the grass wouldn’t necessarily be greener if Lal was the man to next take charge.