Leicester City in serious danger of administration - player wages are 'killing them'
Leicester City's owners are in desperate need of investment or the sale of the club to avoid going into administration, sources have told Football Insider.
King Powers' businesses in Malaysia and Thailand are in increasing trouble and the knock-on effect is that the former Premier League champions are facing a financial black hole.
Every member of Russell Martin's squad has also been put up for sale with a mass exodus of first-XI talent expected before the end of the transfer window.
Sources say that Leicester's big- earning players are "killing them".
Leicester have been put up for sale this week along with the women's team, stadium, training facilities and sister club OH Leuven, with the Srivaddhanaprabha family seeking more than £200million.
A successful sale will mark the end of an era spanning more than 16 years, when the late Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha bought the East Midlands club.
His son, Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, succeeded his father as chairman of Leicester but has been unable to avert the decline, ultimately resulting in relegation to League One last season for a side who won the Premier League just 10 years ago.
How did Leicester City get here?
Leicester have been on a downward path for some time now, with a number of bad decisions now having taken their toll.
Enzo Maresca's team that won the Championship in the 2023-24 season looked to be a squad far too good for the second tier.
But that team was nowhere near good enough for the Premier League after the Italian left, and only got worse last season.
The Foxes have found themselves full of highly-paid players who have failed to perform on the pitch, and they are still struggling to shift many of them.
Even after the departures of Harry Winks, who was reportedly on an absurd £90,000 per week, Ricardo Pereira, Jordan Ayew and several others, Leicester's wage bill is still expected to be the biggest League One has ever seen.
Who has to leave before the window shuts?
Several players still remain on significant wages and must leave the club in the final weeks of the window.
Oliver Skipp, Hamza Choudhury and Wout Faes are reportedly on £50,000 per week each - a sum that is tanking the club's finances.
Harry Souttar is also thought to be on big wages, but he is close to signing for Sheffield United.
Leicester have seen this situation happen time and time again in the English pyramid, but have now fallen foul to the same fate. The coming days will be key to their survival.