Manager claims to have paid £7.5 million for an Everton player who had a long-term ailment.
Despite Tom Cannon’s ongoing injury, Everton sold him for £7.5 million.
Enzo Maresca, the manager of Leicester City, has acknowledged that they recruited the striker despite being aware of his injury history.
Cannon only managed four senior appearances for Everton since graduating from their academy, however his brilliant loan spell at Preston North End led to huge interest in his signature this summer.
After netting eight goals in the second half of last season for the Lilywhites, a number of Championship clubs were battling it out to sign Cannon on loan.
While he looked set to rejoin Preston for most of the transfer window, Leicester eventually won the race and opted to splash £7.5m to sign him permanently.
However, Cannon is yet to make his debut for the Foxes and Maresca has now revealed exactly why.
Maresca added, “Just because it’s a long-term investment doesn’t mean we don’t need him now,” in a statement to BBC Radio Leicester.
“But we would rather be cautious and perform all necessary tests.
“We discovered a mistake when he signed. He isn’t even training with us right now, so I assume it will take a while.
“How long we still don’t know. He attended none of our training sessions.
It has been reported that Cannon has suffered a stress fracture in his back, which reportedly takes a minimum of six to eight weeks to heal. This means he may not return to action till November/December.
Did Everton do well to earn £7.5m from Cannon’s exit?
It now seems pretty impressive that Everton were able to claim such a hefty fee for an inexperienced striker, especially given his lengthy injury.
However, Leicester clearly have enough firepower to keep them going until he returns and the Toffees could well regret selling him if he helps the club return to the Premier League.
He is clearly a huge talent and could well have been an important player at Goodison Park in the future, though at least Sean Dyche’s side included a sell-on clause in the deal.
