London serving Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is close to a move to France with Nice.
According to Sky Sports:
“The 35-year-old Denmark international will undergo a medical with the Ligue 1 club in the next 24 to 48 hours after an agreement was reached between the clubs.
“Speaking at the weekend, Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers admitted Schmeichel would be allowed to end his 11-year stay at the King Power Stadium if he found a new club.”
"To lose him a few days before the season starts is very puzzling" 🤨
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 2, 2022
How big of a loss will Kasper Schmeichel be for Leicester? 😬 #TransferTalk pic.twitter.com/nt7g21ps3z
Schmeichel is leaving quite a legacy behind him
Schmeichel has been in England since 2002 when he joined Manchester City’s academy when his father Peter played for the club.
He made just ten appearances for City and had multiple loan spells at Darlington, Bury, Falkirk, Cardiff City and Coventry City.
He finally made a permanent move away when he joined Notts County who were in League 2 in 2009. Schmeichel made 49 appearances for the Magpies and kept 25 clean sheets.
Leeds United was his next port of call. Being the son of a Manchester United legend it is odd that he played for two rivals in Man City and Leeds. He made 40 appearances for the Yorkshire side before joining Leicester City in 2011.
It was at the Foxes that he made a name for himself gaining promotion with the club in 2014, remarkably winning the league with them in 2016 and the FA Cup in 2021. He made 478 appearances in total for the club keeping 147 clean sheets. Schmeichel will no doubt go down as a Leicester City legend.
Leicester finished 8th in the Premier League last season and with a lack of activity in the transfer window this summer it looks like the right time to move on. The club are also in danger of losing other key players including James Maddison, Wesley Fofana, Harvey Barnes and Youri Tielemans.
Nice is the place to be
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end and it will be emotional for Leicester fans as well as Schmeichel himself to move on.
However, after playing in Britain for his whole career the south of France is not a bad destination.
Nice finished 5th last season in Ligue 1 which qualified them for the Europa Conference League so it is an exciting time to be at the club. In France, he will also be able to test himself against the likes of Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
The club are putting quite a squad together having recently signed former Arsenal and Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey. Schmeichel will be also reunited with his Denmark teammate Kasper Dolberg, so he will be in good company.
They are managed by Lucien Favre who is in his second spell in charge of the club after a spell at Borussia Dortmund.
Schmeichel has 84 caps for Denmark and has already represented them at the 2018 World Cup and Euro 2020 so will be looking to keep his place in the side for Qatar 2022.
Denmark is in a group with France, Australia and Tunisia. Moving to a French club will be interesting as he will be coming up against the county on the 26th of November at the World Cup.