Confirmed Transfer Ritchie de Laet and Matthew James

Micky · May 15, 2012

Confirmed on the official site.

Young hungry players from a good schooling as opposed to supposedly tried and test (from the Sven era). Let's see if it works!

alex · May 15, 2012

Busy getting done early.. Nicely.

FryattFox · May 15, 2012

Happy with this. Exactly the kind of signings I expected and wanted, and I think we need.

Steven · May 15, 2012

http://www.lcfc.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10274~2773743,00.html

Agreement Reached For United Duo
Posted on: Tue 15 May 2012

Leicester City have today (Tuesday) reached an agreement with Manchester United for the transfer of Ritchie De Laet and Matty James.

Defender Ritchie, 23, and midfielder Matty, 20, will join the Foxes for an undisclosed fee, signing until June 2015.

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson said: "Ritchie and Matthew are both players we have been monitoring for some time and we are very pleased to be able to bring them both to the Club.

"Both are hungry, young players with winning mentalities, experience of Championship football and a desire to be successful. They will add considerable quality to the squad."

Belgium-born De Laet, a versatile defender and a full international, arrives at King Power Stadium following a recent loan spell with Premier League Norwich City. He made six appearances for the United first team, including three in the Premier League, after joining from Stoke City in January 2009, having started his career with Royal Antwerp.

While at Old Trafford, he also enjoyed loan spells with Sheffield United, Preston North End and Portsmouth and won two senior Belgium caps during his time with the Red Devils.

Bacup-born James, an England Under-20 international, proved equally adaptable during his time as a young professional, operating in defence as well as thriving in his more customary midfield position.

After graduating from the United academy, he signed professional terms in July 2009 and was a central figure for the reserves before two successful loan spells with Preston North End, where he made 32 appearances and scored three goals.

lanxfox jnr · May 15, 2012

Pleased with these signings, signs that Nigel is trying to build a team not just throwing money at it like Sven did. Both have a lot of potential and hopefully both will play a big part next season.

Graz · May 15, 2012

Happy with both of these from the little I know of them. Both been on the books at United for some time, so can't be too shabby!

Am I right in thinking De Laet is primarily a right back?

lanxfox jnr · May 15, 2012

Graz said:
Happy with both of these from the little I know of them. Both been on the books at United for some time, so can't be too shabby!

Am I right in thinking De Laet is primarily a right back?

He's a centre back primarily, that's what I've been told anyway!

Scotfox · May 15, 2012

Just a quick question, does NP, have a private line to Man U ? Many of his signings, even when he was at Hull came through the ranks at Old Trafford. I'm not complaining no doubt they have a first class academy and youth system, so looking forward to seeing the team develop.

RHYDAL · May 15, 2012

lanxfox jnr said:
Pleased with these signings, signs that Nigel is trying to build a team not just throwing money at it like Sven did. Both have a lot of potential and hopefully both will play a big part next season.

Really? Without knowing how much was paid, how can you be sure? And if they're any good, why are Man U off-loading them?
Only time will tell if these are shrewd signings.

Micky · May 15, 2012

RHYDAL said:
Really? Without knowing how much was paid, how can you be sure? And if they're any good, why are Man U off-loading them?
Only time will tell if these are shrewd signings.

I think people are pleased that we are going for young, hungry players with a point to prove, rather than the seasoned pro's who have already earnt their corn. Whether they will turn out to be any good, nobody knows.

londonfox · May 15, 2012

lanxfox jnr said:
signs that Nigel is trying to build a team not just throwing money at it like Sven did.

I think Sven gets unfairly labelled with the "throwing money at it" tag. Yes, we spent, relatively speaking, a large amount of money but considering the number of players we got for that money I don't think he was "throwing it around". Arguably two of his better signings, Danns and Nugent, were free transfers and only Beckford and Mills cost significant money.

Good luck to these two lads. I'm not going to pretend I know a lot about them and I am not going to extrapolate and say they are bound to be stars as they came through the Man Utd youth set-up nor am I going to they are bad signings because they lack experience and proven quality.

I'll judge them once the season starts.

RHYDAL said:
Really? Without knowing how much was paid, how can you be sure? Only time will tell if these are shrewd signings.

Exactly what I was going to say. Top post, Rhydal

artic fox · May 15, 2012

Really happy with these two guys joining.

RHYDAL · May 15, 2012

Micky said:
I think people are pleased that we are going for young, hungry players with a point to prove, rather than the seasoned pro's who have already earnt their corn. Whether they will turn out to be any good, nobody knows.

I'll take ability over pashun any day.

Luke Chadwick come on for MK Dons tonight. Just saying like.

artic fox · May 15, 2012

RHYDAL said:
I'll take ability over pashun any day.

Luke Chadwick come on for MK Dons tonight. Just saying like.

Have I missed something ?

atlantafox · May 15, 2012

I know Chadwick played for Man Utd as well in his early days and is an obvious comparison - but his career only starting going downhill after his male modelling contracts got cancelled

http://live4liverpool.com/top-ten-ugliest-footballers-of-their-time/attachment/luke-chadwick

fitz · May 15, 2012

RHYDAL said:
I'll take ability over pashun any day.

Luke Chadwick come on for MK Dons tonight. Just saying like.

Aye but IMO.....

Being a smashing bunch of lads > Hunger > being from LE postcode > ability > pashun

londonfox · May 15, 2012

http://www.manutdtalk.com/index.php?threads/ex-reserve-and-academy-players.38214/

Makes for a mixed bag.

Micky · May 15, 2012

RHYDAL said:
I'll take ability over pashun any day.

Luke Chadwick come on for MK Dons tonight. Just saying like.

IMO we've gone for ability in the past and quite often the lazy feckers can't be arsed. Look no further than Norwich for some pashun!

londonfox · May 15, 2012

Micky said:
IMO we've gone for ability in the past and quite often the lazy feckers can't be arsed. Look no further than Norwich for some pashun!

I think Norwich have a mixture of both, to be fair. And, shouldn't we be looking for both in potential new signings.

RHYDAL · May 15, 2012

artic fox said:
Have I missed something ?

No, the Dons still lost.

P		Pld	Pts
1	Leicester	46	97
2	Ipswich	46	96
3	Leeds Utd	46	90
4	Southampton	46	87
5	West Brom	46	75
6	Norwich City	46	73
7	Hull City	46	70
8	Middlesbro	46	69
9	Coventry City	46	64
10	Preston	46	63
11	Bristol City	46	62
12	Cardiff City	46	62
13	Millwall	46	59
14	Swansea City	46	57
15	Watford	46	56
16	Sunderland	46	56
17	Stoke City	46	56
18	QPR	46	56
19	Blackburn	46	53
20	Sheffield W	46	53
21	Plymouth	46	51
22	Birmingham	46	50
23	Huddersfield	46	45
24	Rotherham Utd	46	27

Confirmed Transfer Ritchie de Laet and Matthew James

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