Leicester City have experienced their fair share of heartache in the transfer window, with fans watching their team miss out on superstars.
Famously, Ousmane Dembele rejected a move to Leicester in 2016 after a phone call with Claudio Ranieri.
In that same year, Leicester also eyed Erling Haaland when he was at RB Salzburg, but unfortunately, a move never materialised as scout Steve Walsh left the King Power Stadium for Everton and recommended them to sign him instead.
Remarkably, the Toffees manager at the time Ronald Koeman passed up the opportunity to capture the Norwegian goal machine despite Walsh showing an eagerness to get a deal done.
This isn’t the only time Everton and Leicester have been involved in a transfer tussle, as both clubs battled to sign a Sunderland star in 2016.
Leicester City almost signed Jordan Pickford in 2016
When Sam Allardyce was in charge of the Black Cats and famously saved them from relegation in 2015/16, Jordan Pickford was making a name for himself out on loan at Preston North End.
The goalkeeper made 24 appearances for the Lilywhites before being recalled by Allardyce in January as the veteran manager knew he was going to be a ‘top’ player.
After recalling the Englishman, Allardyce recalled that Leicester offered an ‘awful lot of money’ to sign Pickford when Walsh was the scout and then ended up landing him for Everton in 2017 for a club-record £30 million.
Speaking back in 2018, the former Sunderland boss said: “I knew he was going to the top when I watched him at Preston when he was on loan and I was manager of Sunderland,” Allardyce said on talkSPORT. “I brought him back from Preston at Christmas, they wanted him for the year, and he had a few games with us.
“We got offered an awful lot of money by Leicester City from Steve Walsh when I was at Sunderland, so it was no surprise when Walsh was director of football at Everton that he bought Pickford when (Sunderland) got relegated.”
At the time of the offer, City had Kasper Schmeichel, Mark Schwarzer and Ben Hamer as their senior goalkeeping options but will be cursing themselves that Walsh joined Everton as it could have been them who signed Pickford.
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What Gary Lineker has said about Pickford
Pickford has established himself as one of the Premier League’s best shot-stoppers since signing for Everton and become England’s cemented number one.
The 31-year-old has kept 86 clean sheets in 310 appearances for the Toffees while racking up 73 caps for the Three Lions, starring in multiple tournaments, namely the Euros and World Cup.
The quality goalkeeper has unsurprisingly been selected as the number one for Thomas Tuchel’s first England squad ahead of World Cup Qualifiers against Albania and Latvia.
Tuchel admires Pickford’s all-round game and he isn’t the only one, as Leicester City icon Gary Lineker waxed lyrical over him at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.
When picking his Premier League Team of the Season last term alongside Alan Shearer, Lineker made a case for selecting Pickford over the likes of David Raya and Ederson.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Lineker said: “I’m also going for Pickford. I’m surprised we’ve agreed. For a variety of reasons, I think he’s been unbelievable. He’s a lot busier, obviously than someone like Raya. Ederson and Allison are great goalkeepers, but they’ve made one or two mistakes.”
Clearly, the Everton man has gone onto achieve incredible things since joining the Toffees, in another case of what could have been for Leicester.