Everton told to pay £40m+ for Leicester City star - "He’s the best winger in the Championship" | OneFootball

FLW's Leicester City Fan Pundit slaps a hefty price-tag on Abdul Fatawu

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…

Leicester City winger Abdul Fatawu has reportedly emerged as a target for Everton, according to journalist Alan Myers.

The 21-year-old suffered a serious ACL injury while on international duty with Ghana last season, which ruled him out for the remainder of the Foxes' Premier League season from November.

Signing for the East Midlands outfit permanently after helping them win the Championship title in 23/24, Fatawu has since made a successful return to action following his spell on the sidelines.

He played in both the last pre-season game against Fiorentina and the opening league match against Sheffield Wednesday.

Abdul Fatawu backed to stay at Leicester City this window

FLW's Leicester City Fan Pundit, Louchlainn Martin, expressed his confidence that Fatawu will not be departing the King Power this summer.

"I can safely say that Abdul Fatawu will not be leaving Leicester City this summer, and I think that’s pretty much the mindset of the majority of Leicester fans," Martin told FLW.

"Fatawu’s just off the back of an ACL injury - he’s been out since November, he played his first couple of games recently. The Fiorentina pre-season game he played a lot of minutes and was exceptional, and then on the weekend against Sheffield Wednesday in the first league game, again he was very good.

"He’s still not back to full fitness of course, as you’d expect from somebody who’s just come back from an ACL," he added.

Before his injury, the Ghanaian international had played 11 Premier League games in 24/25 - managing to get two assists.

Timeframe on when Fatawu could leave Leicester

Martin put a lot of emphasis on the player's connection to the club as a key factor in him staying beyond the summer transfer window. "The reason I don’t think he’ll leave is number one, he loves it at Leicester City," he added.

"Of course, the response to that from some external fans would be well, yeah but he wants to play in the Premier League, and of course he wants to play in the Premier League, every footballer does," Martin said.

It's worth noting that Leicester initially paid Sporting €750k to bring him on loan. It was whilst Fatawu was a temporary player that he managed 20 goal involvements across all competitions - grabbing seven goals and 13 assists.

"There is no doubt in my mind that he will stay for at least another six months, or until January. If we’re in a good position in the Championship at that point I think he’ll stay till next summer," Martin continued.

"He loves his time at Leicester, we’ve supported him through his injury, we’ve nurtured him through and I honestly think it would cost too much money for Everton, to be honest."

"£40m, £50m" price-tag claim slapped on Everton target

As per Sky Sports' Rob Dorsett, the Toffees are not prepared to meet Leicester's valuation of Fatawu and are apparently turning their attention elsewhere.

Fan Pundit Martin backed this up with a hefty claim on how much he thinks Fatawu is worth, telling FLW, "The amount of money that it would cost is too much of a risk off the back of an ACL injury - that could be a recurring thing - he could get injured again very soon we just don’t know these things, it’s quite unpredictable when you come back from an ACL.

"I have no doubt if he was to go, if I had to put a price tag on him I think it would cost upwards of £40m this summer. He’s the best winger in the Championship, he’s the best winger at this level in my opinion," Martin claimed.

"Fans that disagree with that will see with their own eyes this season if he stays, he will be exceptional and he will be a big part of if Leicester were to get promoted again."

Against Sheffield Wednesday on the 10th of August, Fatawu completed the most dribbles in the match out of any player - six - whilst also winning the most fouls in the game, four.

Ultimately, with Everton now reportedly looking at other targets following Leicester's stance on Fatawu's value, it appears increasingly likley that the Ghanaian will remain at the King Power for the forseeable future - much to the delight of Martin.