Ruud van Nistelrooy has revealed that he spoke with former Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca before making his first signing.
Woyo Coulibaly officially joined the Foxes on Wednesday for a reported £3m from Serie A side Parma.
Coulibaly, who could make his Leicester debut on Saturday against Fulham, is the first Foxes signing this transfer window.
Due diligence has been done on this move, with Ruud van Nistelrooy remaining coy on additions throughout the month.
Now that the deal is done, the Foxes boss revealed that he turned to current Chelsea manager Maresca in the signing process.
Enzo Maresca told Ruud van Nistelrooy to sign Woyo Coulibaly
Van Nistelrooy and Maresca know each other well from their time playing at La Liga side Malaga and have both tredded down similar paths having taken charge of Leicester.
It was Maresca who signed Coulibaly for Parma back in 2021 and when asked if he had contacted the Italian to get the lowdown on the full-back, Leicester’s current manager said he had been a big help.
“I called a couple of people to speak about him,” the Dutchman said.
“We took a lot of time to get him, to talk to him and people around him and we’re happy that it came through today.”
Leicester City must continue to recruit in January transfer window
Signing number one is finally here, but as Wednesday’s loss against Crystal Palace showed, new faces are still required.
A centre-back and forward are the two priorities whilst a goalkeeper could also be an option for the Foxes too.
Leicester’s Premier League record since December is unacceptable and the only way to improve that is through new additions.
Jamie Vardy disappointed in the Palace defeat and with Patson Daka also misfiring, new forwards are needed to bury these chances.
We’re at the halfway point of the window now and the Foxes need to pull some rabbits out of some hats to make this a successful month.