Walsh gives insight into Leicester scouting methods

Mark Holmes
N'Golo Kante: Steve Walsh credited with Leicester signing the midfielder

N'Golo Kante: Focused only the European Championships

Leicester City head of recruitment Steve Walsh has agreed a new contract with the Premier League champions.

The Foxes assistant manager has been credited with helping discover the bargain buys which have seen them storm to their first top flight title in their 132-year history.

New PFA player of the year Riyad Mahrez, bought for £400,000 from Le Havre in 2014 and midfielder N’Golo Kante, who was an unknown before signing from Caen last season, have starred this term.

Fellow assistant manager Craig Shakespeare is also happy with his new terms, with Walsh confirming they just need to put pen to paper.

“We’ve not signed but it’s all agreed,” he said.

Vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha added: ‘I think small things (are needed) but both have agreed. They did a brilliant job here and happy to do that.”

Claudio Ranieri’s Foxes wrapped up the title last week after Tottenham’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea and beat Everton 3-1 on Saturday in a party atmosphere at the King Power Stadium before lifting the trophy.

They head into the Champions League next season as one of the top seeds having won the title, but Walsh warned it will become tougher to unearth unknown talent.

“There’s so much information out there, there’s so much DVD evidence, so it does make it more and more difficult,” he said.

“It’s not just upon me, because I’ve got people working for me, bringing information and we’ve got to act on it. Obviously then decisions have got to be made with the manager, who can decide.

“It’s about knowledge. You can’t know every player in the world, that’s impossible. But if you target certain leagues, which we do, and you try and find the better players within that league, and then try and find out about them as much as they can.

“Once the season starts you’ve got until January to make a decision, you don’t need to make a snap decision. So if you really believe in a player, get all the DVD evidence clipped up, but then get out and see them.”

Kante, bought for a reported £5.6million, was also nominated for the PFA Player of the Year after his stunning debut season and Walsh knows he has excelled.

He added: “I keep telling the same joke over and over again. No matter who we’re playing we play three in midfield, we play (Danny) Drinkwater in the middle as a holding player and we play Kante either side.”