Leicester City have had plenty of players who have struggled at the Foxes but went on to be a huge success elsewhere.
Harry Kane is the most notable name after barely made an impact at the King Power Stadium, only to go on to become England’s record goal scorer and one of the best players in the world.
Given that there are so many players who have represented the Foxes over the years, it’s easy to forget who actually played in the royal blue.
However, one player who had a spell to forget at Leicester opened up on his difficult spell in the East Midlands and how he recovered from that to play for England alongside Kane and Jamie Vardy at the 2018 World Cup.
Jesse Lingard struggled on loan at Leicester City in 2012
One of the many faces who had time on loan at Leicester was Jesse Lingard.
A fresh-faced teenager at the time, Lingard joined the Foxes on loan in 2012 from Manchester United but didn’t make an impact in any of his five appearances, all of which came off the bench.
What football fans don’t see is what went on away from the pitch and in 2019, Lingard opened up about the tough time he had at Leicester, where he was confined to a hotel room most evenings.
| Apps | Minutes played | Goals | Assists |
| 5 | 76 | 0 | 0 |
Writing in the Players’ Tribune, he said: “When you make it to the top, people see the glitz and the glamour, but they don’t see everything that went into it.
“They don’t see you living out of a Marriott in Leicester, eating room service for dinner every night, missing your family, doubting yourself, wondering if it’s ever gonna happen for you.
“We’ve all got different paths in this game. There’s so many things you don’t see.”
Jesse Lingard was in England squad with Kane and Vardy at 2018 World Cup
Lingard was able to channel those early-career setbacks and established himself as a Man United first-team regular, even scoring the winner in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace in 2016.
Two years later, Lingard found himself in the England squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia alongside Jamie Vardy and Kane, both of whom had also struggled with the Foxes and were famously snapped sitting together on the bench for the Foxes in the play-off defeat against Watford in 2013.
“You know what’s so crazy to me? I was sat in that Marriott back in 2012, eating my room service chips, and I was barely getting a run-out for Leicester, and in that same dressing room you had Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, and they were going through the same struggles,” Lingard recalled.
“We were all just trying to get a game in the Championship. Six years later, we’re all walking out for the World Cup semi-final, representing England. How do you explain that?”
Seven years on from that World Cup venture, Vardy is still at Leicester, Kane is tearing it up in Germany with Bayern Munich and Lingard is playing for FC Seoul in South Korea.