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Credit: Imago/Leicester City FC

Chris Smith

Fri 22 August 2025 18:46, UK

Leicester City could be facing a defensive crisis when they travel to Charlton Athletic on Saturday as Besiktas make an approach for Wout Faes.

The Foxes have endured an unconvincing start to the new season, beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 on the opening day before exiting the EFL Cup on penalties to Huddersfield Town and losing 2-1 away at Preston North End last time out.

Next up is a trip to a Charlton side who have conceded just one goal in three competitive matches this campaign, beating Watford in the Championship and Stevenage in the EFL Cup – 1-0 and 3-1, respectively — before a goalless draw away at Bristol City.

By contrast, Leicester – who also look set to lose Abdul Fatawu this summer – have already conceded five goals in 2025/26, and now, things might be about to get worse at the back for Marti Cifuentes.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Turkish giants Besiktas have ‘made an approach’ for centre-back Faes.

The Black Eagles are under the management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and have already raided the King Power Stadium once this summer, signing midfielder Wilfred Ndidi.

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Besiktas have gone four years without a Super Lig title and are going to great lengths in order to support Solskjaer in putting that right, with the likes of Orkun Kokcu and Tammy Abraham joining Ndidi in Istanbul.

Leicester City statsWout FaesAppearances122Goals6Assists3Wout Faes’ Leicester City career stats

But they’re nowhere near done yet, with Faes now high on a list of potential centre-back targets, alongside Union Berlin’s Danilho Doekhi.

Faes joined Leicester from Reims in 2022 and has made 122 appearances for the club so far.

During that time, the 27-year-old Belgium international has suffered two Premier League relegations, either side of winning the 2023/24 Championship title.

Football Insider verdict

The chances of Faes missing this weekend’s clash with Charlton in the face of Besiktas interest are admittedly quite slim.

However, given the defensive injuries Cifuentes is already dealing with, it’s the last thing he needs.

Leicester go into the weekend likely to be without full-backs James Justin and Victor Kristiansen due to respective dead leg and collision injuries.

Meanwhile, Australian defender Harry Souttar remains out until at least mid-October with an ACL injury.

Ricardo Pereira looks set to return in some form this weekend, but the veteran Portuguese right-back hasn’t played a competitive match since May and will need to work off some rust.

Despite his qualities, Faes has been mistake-prone at the best of times during his time with Leicester, making a team-high four errors leading to a shot in the 2024/25 Premier League alone (FBref).

Cifuentes could do without a player of his nature being distracted by transfer rumours, with Leicester looking to kick-start their season and meet supporter expectations of an immediate return to the Premier League.

Alongside Faes and Fatawu, Bilal El Khannouss is also a target of Crystal Palace, who are looking to replace Arsenal-bound Eberechi Eze.

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