Despite Tom Cannon’s ongoing injury, Everton sold him for £7.5 million.
Enzo Maresca, the manager of Leicester City, has acknowledged that they recruited the striker despite being aware of his injury history.
Cannon only managed four senior appearances for Everton since graduating from their academy, however his brilliant loan spell at Preston North End led to huge interest in his signature this summer.
After netting eight goals in the second half of last season for the Lilywhites, a number of Championship clubs were battling it out to sign Cannon on loan.
While he looked set to rejoin Preston for most of the transfer window, Leicester eventually won the race and opted to splash £7.5m to sign him permanently.
Cannon has yet to play for the Foxes, though, and Maresca has now explained why.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, Maresca said: “Because it is a long-term investment it doesn’t mean we don’t need him now.
“But we prefer to be careful with that and make all the checks that we need to do.
“We found a problem when he signed. At the moment he is not even training with us, so it will be quite long-term I guess.
“We still don’t know how long. He didn’t train any sessions with us.”
According to reports, Cannon has a stress fracture in his back, which is said to heal in a minimum of six to eight weeks. This indicates that he might not act again until November or December.
Did Everton succeed in making £7.5 million off of Cannon’s exit?
Given his protracted injury, it now seems rather impressive that Everton was able to demand such a high price for a young striker.
The Toffees may have regretted selling him if he helped the club return to the Premier League, but Leicester obviously has enough firepower to keep them going until he returns.
He is obviously very talented and could have developed into a key player at Goodison Park, but at least Sean Dyche’s team included a sell-on provision in the contract.
