Iborra pips Lacazette to Premier League Signing of the Week
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It’s been a big week in the Premier League, with Alexandre Lacazette unquestionably the biggest deal of the entire summer so far.
But is it our Signing of the Week? No, no it isn’t, and neither is Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, which is far from complete.
Beyond the furore and euphoria over both moves, our award this week goes to Leicester City and their highly impressive capture of Sevilla skipper Vicente Iborra.
The 2015-16 champions really have landed a peach of a player here.
And they didn’t break the bank to do so either, bringing the midfielder in on a four-year deal for a tidy £10.5m.
It’s a real statement from the Foxes – a statement that they won’t be pushovers this season.
Having lost N’Golo Kante to Chelsea 12 months ago, Leicester found themselves overrun in the midfield far too often last term.
They remain a threat going forward, but Iborre now should bring that steel back to the East Midlands middle order.
The 29-year-old will bring the experience of over 200 La Liga fixtures, facing Real Madrid and Barcelona over 13 times apiece.
Iborra also boasts over 50 appearances in European competition, something which will be key to the Foxes should they manage to return to the continent.
And not only has he featured in Europe, but he’s won the Europa League three times with Sevilla, so he knows what’s required to claim silverware.
Primarily a holding midfielder, Iborra can also chip in further up the field, and 43 career goals shows he can do the business in attack too.
What’s more, the Spaniard can do a job at centre-half, should the Foxes be caught short with the ageing Wes Morgan and Robert Huth.
So all in all, it’s a signing that should really put the Foxes back in top-half and even top-eight contention.
And the Spaniard is deservedly our Premier League Signing of the Week.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing
