(Football news) Leicester City are closing in on their first signing of the summer transfer window. It has been a frustrating summer for Brendan Rodgers as he had previously made his feelings clear about the need for new players at the King Power. Despite his call for more signings, Leicester City are currently the only Premier League side that are yet to make a signing in this transfer window. Though supporters will be keen to see more high-profile arrivals after their disappointing 2-2 draw against Brentford. 

Rodgers recently admitted that the club were hunting for a third-choice goalkeeper in order to allow academy prospect Jakub Stolarczyk to gain experience out on loan this season. City’s goalkeeping department has completely undergone an overhaul this summer. After Kasper Schmeichel signed for Nice and Eldin Jakupovic was released, now Danny Ward has been promoted to the number one goalkeeper in the club with Daniel Iversen as his back-up after impressing on loan at Preston North End. The Telegraph reported that Leicester are "close" to signing 32-year-old goalkeeper Alex Smithies, who is said to be "in talks over a move". 

Smithies would arrive as a free transfer after he was subsequently released by Cardiff. The experienced goalkeeper began his career with Huddersfield before making his debut at age 17, and then went on to play over 250 times for the Terries before moving to QPR in 2015. After establishing himself as first-choice keeper at Loftus Road, Smithies was signed by the Wales club Cardiff on their return to the Premier League in 2018 and made 16 appearances during his final season. Leicester’s situation is quite concerning as their key players in the form of Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Wesley Fofana all want to leave the club, if they do leave then the foxes would need to find three replacements in a span of 3 weeks till the transfer window closes

Speaking after the draw with Brentford, Rodgers said: “Ideally if we were to bring somebody else in, it would be a number three keeper so we could get young Jakub out on loan because we think he’s going to be an outstanding keeper, but he needs to play. The worst-case scenario he doesn’t go out, he stays, and then I’ve got three very good goalkeepers. He goes out only when we can get another one in.”

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