Leicester City boss 'sad' as admission made over £7.5m ex-Preston and Everton striker

Leicester City boss, Enzo Maresca, admits he is ‘sad’ at leaving ex-Preston North End loan star, Tom Cannon, out of his latest squad.

The centre-forward, who scored eight goals in 20 appearances for PNE in the second half of last season, signed for the Foxes in the summer. North End wanted to bring him back to Deepdale, but Leicester lured him away from Goodison Park for a reported £7.5million.

Cannon has scored two goals in 12 league appearances for the league leaders, having missed the first few months of the campaign through injury. He also scored at Millwall, in the FA Cup. But, the 21-year-old now needs to work his way back into the first team picture - having missed a handful of games, with a knock, post-international break.

With Jamie Vardy, Patson Daka and Kelechi Iheanacho for competition, Maresca has explained how Cannon was left out of the last Leicester match squad. The Foxes were beaten 1-0 at The Den. And Maresca’s comments led to quite a backlash, from Leicester fans on social media.

“Tom is fine,” said Maresca. “With Tom, I feel a bit how I felt like with Patson (Daka) at the start of the season. I feel sad, because he trains fantastic every day. At any other club, he could play and score many goals. But, because we have so many strikers at the club, I need to make a decision. He is a fantastic professional."