The centre-back arrived at the King Power Stadium with a reported £5 million price tag on his head, big pressure, especially given Mills was also immediately handed the captain's armband by Sven Goran Eriksson.
Add on fees, although not confirmed and kept as 'undisclosed', could have sent his overall cost to £5.5 million when he signed from Reading, something which would have made him the most expensive player in Leicester's history.
The former Manchester City man, ironically, came up against former club Reading in City's first home game of the new 2011-12 season and had a somewhat below-par game, with some fans questioning his signing. But he improved with time, although he did get sent-off for a two-footed lunge in City's 2-0 defeat at Birmingham City in October 2011.
He began his senior career with Southampton but, after loan stints with Coventry City and Bournemouth, Manchester City snapped him up after the tall and athletic defender had appeared for England U18s and U19s. He made just two league appearances for the Citizens and was loaned out to Colchester United and Doncaster Rovers before the latter signed him on a permanent deal.
He spent a year with Doncaster before Reading signed him, for a fee believed to be around the £2 million mark, and he really kicked on to become an impressive player at Championship level. Mills and his Reading team-mates missed out on promotion to the Premier League in 2010-11 and the Foxes offer for the Royals' key man proved too good to turn down.