Marti Cifuentes handed massive Leicester City boost - It could be the difference between promotion or not | OneFootball

Sometimes the best outcome of transfer deadline day is keeping your best player, and that's what happened with Leicester and Abdul Fatawu.

Sometimes the best outcome of a transfer deadline day is to keep hold of your brightest talent, and that's what's happened in the case of Leicester City and Abdul Fatawu.

Relegation from the Premier League can come at a considerable cost, and not just a financial one.

For Leicester City, falling into the Championship has resulted in a huge talent drain away from the club.

With Jamie Vardy, Conor Coady and Wilfred Ndidi just a small selection of those who've left The King Power Stadium since the end of the 2024-25 season, it's a very different-looking Leicester team that's taking to the pitch in the Championship season, this time around.

The club have also brought in new recruitments, but for the Foxes the end of the summer transfer window was as much about stemming the flow of players away from the club. And in one case they've been very successful indeed. Abdul Fatawu, their gifted 21-year-old Ghanaian winger, had been the subject of transfer speculation all summer, but deadline day passed without him leaving the club and that's very good news indeed for head coach Marti Cifuentes.

Marti Cifuentes arrived at Leicester at a pivotal moment in the club's recent history

Marti Cifuentes arrived at Leicester City at a point when their future was starting to look a little bleak.

Financial issues have hit the club hard, and they remains under the threat of a points deduction over PSR issues. On top of that, the drain of players away from the club, although inevitable, was also likely to have a deflating effect on a fan base who, not so long ago, were celebrating winning the FA Cup.

Jamie Vardy, the single most talismanic figure within the club, finally left, while there was an agonising delay over getting rid of and then replacing former manager Ruud Van Nistelrooy and replacing him, so it would have been easy for Leicester to start the new season under a cloud.

But instead, they've started solidly, with three wins and a defeat from their first four matches of the season leaving them in fourth place in the Championship table.

The temptation was to cash in on Abdul Fatawu was there for both player and club this summer

With so many players having left the club over the summer, retaining their more talented assets was at the top of the priority list for Leicester as the transfer window closed.

And Abdul Fatawu certainly has the talent. Since joining the club from Sporting Clube in 2023, the winger has become instrumental in Leicester's attacking play despite their supine fall from the Premier League last season.

And Fatawu has started the new season in sensational form, with two goals in his first four matches; the winning goal in their 1-0 win at Charlton and the opening goal of their 2-0 against Birmingham City last weekend. Furthermore, Fatawu gives every impression of caring. His comments about needing better support, following a negative reaction to their 2-1 defeat at Preston, was criticised in some quarters, but at least gave the impression that the player was committed to the cause.

After the Charlton win, Marti Cifuentes was very vocal about his desire to keep Fatawu at the club and he's got his wish. Fatawu was rumoured to have been connected to a variety of clubs, including Everton, Brentford, Fiorentina and Valencia, so the temptation was there for both the player and the club to cash in.

That they managed to hold onto him might even end up proving the difference between promotion or not, this season.