New £15m man Ndidi ready for Leicester debut

Sarah Winterburn

New Leicester signing Wilfred Ndidi could be handed an instant debut when the Foxes face Everton.

The midfielder completed a reported £15million move from Genk on Wednesday and signed a five-year deal with the champions.

Ndidi’s work permit application has been accepted, he trained with his new team-mates on Thursday and boss Ranieri will decide if he is ready for the weekend.

Leicester go to Goodison Park in the FA Cup third round on Saturday and, while Ranieri said Ndidi was not a replacement for N’Golo Kante, he hopes he impresses quickly.

“Everything with the work permit is OK,” Ranieri told a press conference. “He trained today. He is available for Saturday and all is fine. I don’t know (if he will play). Let me see him in training.

“Today was his first (session). He was OK and I want to see tomorrow and then I’ll choose.

“He is a very impressive player with a great future. He is tall and jumps very well for the headers, moves the ball quickly and recovers the ball very well.

“We have followed him a lot and we hope he will very quickly impress the fans.

“He’s another kind of player (to Kante) – totally different. A lot of big teams wanted him, but he prefers to come with us to improve.”

Jamie Vardy is available after completing a three-match ban while the Foxes will hope Islam Slimani has recovered from a fever which forced him out of Monday’s 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough.

Danny Drinkwater could also feature after Ranieri rested him for the draw in the north east.