Leicester City fans will surely love double transfer update - Marti Cifuentes isn't messing about | OneFootball

Both Wout Faes and Harry Winks are set to depart Leicester City this month, something that will come as a relief to supporters.

Leicester City have had a roller coaster of a season, with inconsistency on the pitch leaving the team in mid-table in the Championship.

Meanwhile, off the pitch, supporters' patience with the board is wearing thinner and thinner by the day, with recent protests against West Bromwich Albion further proof of the divide between those in the stands and in the boardroom.

With a visit to league leaders and rivals Coventry City next on the agenda, this is a critical point in the season for the 2016 Premier League champions.

The atmosphere at the King Power Stadium is extremely dire and fans have not been quiet over the course of the campaign after relegation from the Premier League in 2024/25. Nonetheless, manager Marti Cifuentes looks to have made two key decisions involving Harry Winks and Wout Faes.

Both players have found themselves left out of the starting 11 in recent weeks, with Winks way out of Cifuentes' plans, and it looks as though they have played their final games for Leicester.

Leicester City fans will be delighted to see Wout Faes' exit and Harry Winks' potential departure

Both Winks and Faes have not featured for the Foxes since November 29, when Sheffield United claimed a 3-2 victory over the East Midlands outfit at the King Power Stadium.

TalkSPORT's Jason Bourne has reported that there is loan interest in former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Winks. However, there is no imminent move for the 29-year-old, who has made 91 appearances for Leicester since joining the club in July 2023, but has been somewhat controversial this season.

Winks didn't acknowledge the travelling Foxes fans when they lost away at Preston North End in August, storming straight down the tunnel, and then the revelation in early December from The Telegraph's John Percy that issues in training had seen the ex-Spurs man removed from the matchday squad.

There have seemingly not been the same issues with Faes, but he's still been absent recently, and is set to join AS Monaco this month, as per a report from FootMercato. A loan-to-buy agreement has been discussed between the Foxes and the Ligue Un club, with the Belgian centre-back closing in on the end of three-and-a-half years in LE2.

Both players have plenty of Premier League experience, but their quality has not shone through at all this season, and now is the right time for them to move on with Leicester struggling in multiple areas of the pitch.

Wout Faes and Harry Winks are estimated to be two of the highest earners at Leicester City

While the Foxes have not hit the heights that they did in the 2023/24 campaign, their chances of promotion are definitely not over with the Championship incredibly tightly packed together.

However, if they do miss out on the top six, then work must be done to limit the amount of money that is being spent on player wages. Leicester have been a consistent Premier League side in years gone by, but their failure to adapt to relegation is proving costly.

According to Capology's estimates, Winks earns £90,000-a-week, while Faes is calculated to be earning a healthy £50,000-a-week. Letting go of nearly £150,000 of wages a week will be of huge interest to those at the top of the club as cost-cutting procedures continue under the ownership of Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha.

Nonetheless, with both deals appearing to start as loans, Leicester may still have to pay part of the wages for both players. Yet, this is a major positive and allows Cifuentes to get some of the deadwood out of a club which has struggled to maintain its identity in recent years.

Faes has had bright moments at the King Power Stadium, but his form in the Premier League was especially poor at times, while supporters have not exactly taken to Winks since his move to the East Midlands outfit.

Leicester need to start finding a real connection with their fans once again, and that starts with the players on the pitch. Cifuentes can lead that charge, but he will need the help of the board to help do that. Nevertheless, getting rid of two players who have never pulled up any trees for the club is a start.