Leicester City’s leaky defence has been one of the main reasons behind their dismal form this season.
Wout Faes has been ‘woeful’, meanwhile, Jannik Vestergaard has been a weak link at the back this campaign.
One ex-Leicester star who would have no doubt sured up the Foxes backline, if he was still playing, is Frank Sinclair.
Strong, reliable and not afraid of a challenge – Sinclair was part of the Martin O’Neill Leicester team which thrived in the late 1990s.
Sinclair has since spoken on his time with the Foxes and revealed the unconventional way in which O’Neill persuaded him to sign for Leicester.
Frank Sinclair reveals the secret behind his Leicester City move
Having enjoyed success with boyhood club Chelsea, Leicester’s signing of Sinclair was seen as a huge coup at the time.
With other clubs circling for the defender’s signature, O’Neill had to use some of his managerial wisdom to get the deal over the line.
That is according to Sinclair, who recently revealed to the ‘Leicester’s The Place’ podcast, that then-Leicester boss used ‘unbelievable’ tactics to persuade him to join the Foxes in 1998.
“I went and sat down with Martin O’Neill, walked in and the first thing he said to me was, as I went to sit at the table, he went: ‘Robbo, Robbo’ he’s then said: ‘Can you believe that he’s here, sat in front of us?’ So he’s obviously bumping me up, isn’t he?
“I didn’t believe him for a second by the way, but he went: ‘Apart from Steve Bould and Tony Adams at Arsenal, he’s the next best centre-half in the Premier League’, so I have obviously gone from feeling down to feeling six feet tall. You know what I mean? So he knows what he’s doing, it’s unbelievable.
“So straight away I’m warming to him straight away so now I am starting to buy into it and Martin.”
Sinclair ‘loved’ playing under Martin O’Neill at Leicester City
Sinclair would remain at Leicester even after O’Neill departed for Celtic – playing for the Foxes up until 2004.
The Jamaican international would eventually go on to play for the likes of Burnley and Huddersfield before eventually hanging up his boots in 2015 at non-league Brackley Town.
Reflecting on his career, Sinclair claimed that former Leicester boss O’Neill was one of the best managers he played under.
“I never had a problem with Martin O’Neill. He is up as one of the best managers I’ve worked with. He had the biggest impact on me psychologically because he wasn’t on the grass coach as a manager. But psychologically he knew how to get you ready for a game,” said the former defender.
“I loved playing for him like everybody else. When you put that shirt on, you didn’t want to let him down because of what he represented and how he was as a person and a manager as well. Regardless of what happened, the respect remained.”