The market valuation for Leicester City and Super Eagles defensive midfielder, Wilfred Ndidi has experienced a sharp drop, according to report.
According to Transfermarkt, a year ago, Ndidi was the most valuable Nigerian player €60 million even ahead of Napoli striker, Victor Osimhen who is now fourth in the world.
Transfermarkt is a website that updates the market value of footballers over time.
The report said Ndidi who was valued at €60m in June 15, 2022, has lost €35m in market value as he is now worth only €25m, about 60 percent loss in value over a year.
The Leicester midfielder suffered a drop in his transfer market value on four consecutive occasions in September and November 2022 as well as March and June 2023.
His value dropped from €60m to €50m in September, €50m to €40m in November, €40m to €32m in March before the latest Transfer Market update on June 20 saw him drop down to €25m.
A run of injuries, a dip in form and Leicester’s poor season could be attributed to how the cookies crumbled for the Nigerian combative midfielder.
Following his move to the Premier League in 2017 for £17million as a replacement for N’Golo Kante who had joined Chelsea after winning the league title with the Foxes a season earlier, the Nigerian international quickly rose to the top of his position in the English top-flight.
He was named the best tackler in his debut season (2017/18) campaign with 138 tackles and in the process was named as Leicester City’s Young Player of the Year for the season at 21.
Ndidi’s strength and domineering power in the midfield may be connected to his pre-professional football career, having grown in the barracks, as his father was a serving army officer before his retirement.
During his early years at the King Power Stadium, the importance of the former KAA Genk star could not not be overemphasized and almost had no equal in the English top-flight.
He was always involved in breaking play of the opponents and winning the ball back in dangerous areas of the field for his team.
In the 2019/20 season when COVID ravaged football, he shared the best tackler prize with Manchester United’s right-back, Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
He made 129 successful tackles alongside Wan-Bissaka, and he nearly helped Leicester book a place a Champions League qualification spot that term, if not for their 2-0 defeat to United at Old Trafford in the season-ending game.
Ndidi was so good that a lot of pundits proffered him as the solution to Man United’s defensive midfield crisis at the time. He was also tipped to join Real Madrid, as a substitute to Casemiro.
In the national team as well, he was the midfield general who had no rival.
Despite all the swirling rumours of a potential exit, which saw the club laugh off reports that he would be worth £50million in a transfer deal, Ndidi stayed put at the club.
Fast-forward to 2021/22 season, towards the end of the campaign, he sustained a knee injury while playing for the club in the maiden UEFA Europa Conference League against Rennes in France.
The injury cost Nigeria dearly. Ndidi missed both legs of the crucial 2022 World Cup play-off against arch-rivals Ghana in March 2022. He subsequently missed the rest of the season.
The 2022/23 campaign for Ndidi was, however, riddled with injury and lack of fitness and to further worsen the situation, Leicester suffered relegation from the Premier League into the SkyBet Championship.
Credit: guardian.ng
