Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannidis

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-transfer-fotis-ioannidis-9377134

 

Leicester City ready 'to shake the bank' in transfer fight for £21m striker
Celtic, Ipswich Town, Lille and Sporting Lisbon have all been linked with the Panathinaikos striker already this summer

ByPeter Smith
10:39, 29 JUN 2024UPDATED11:06, 29 JUN 2024

Fotis Ioannidis, seen in action for Greece, has been linked with a transfer from Panathinaikos this summer. (Image: VANO SHLAMOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Leicester City have joined a hotly-contested transfer chase for Panathinaikos striker Fotis Ioannidis, according to reports in Greece.

Centre-forward Ioannidis, aged 24, has been linked with a big money move this summer after scoring 23 times last season, far and away the most prolific campaign of his career to date.

Links have come thick and fast, with reports that Bologna, Lille, Sporting Lisbon and Celtic, as well as Fulham and West Ham, have all shown serious interest in the 11-time capped Greece international. It is Premier League newcomers Ipswich Town who have seemed at the front of the chase in the last fortnight or so, with claims that bids of around £19m and £21m have been rejected.

 

 

 

Now new reports from Greece claim a further bid which would "shake the bank in the air" could tempt Panathinaikos to loosen their grip on the striker, who was linked with Nottingham Forest before Steve Cooper's time in charge there. And it's Leicester who are said to be working out if they can afford to make it happen this summer.

SDNA report: "Another club from the Premier League is focusing on the Panathinaikos bomber and all that this will entail. Leicester are carefully and thoroughly examining all data on Ioannidis and whether it is possible to buy him in the current transfer window.

"It should be noted that the Foxes got a live taste of the Greek ace during the last season, personally checking his performances and saving his name in their agenda."

[-sodapop]

Would love a big lump up front, gerrimin

[TrickyTrevLeftPeg]

Excellent player. Would love him here but whether we could afford him remains to be seen.

[kingfox]

Pace, physicality, dribbling ability, link up play, vision, he has the lot. 
 

I refuse to get overly excited about this rumour, but if something more concrete appears, then the tissues will be coming out. 

[Dan LCFC]

By all accounts would be a fantastic signing.

[Gamble92]

I usually get him on football manager.

 

Just need Habib Diarra, Lemane Camera and Roony Bhardghi next

Edited 29 June by Gamble92

[Ric Flair]

He's the complete striker.

[Nick]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

He's the complete striker.

I've never heard of him.

[CheeseHead]

4 minutes ago, Dan LCFC said:

By all accounts would be a fantastic signing.

Probably not in the current accounts, but after July 1st definitely!

[Ric Flair]

17 minutes ago, Nick said:

I've never heard of him.

What I mean by that is he's strong in every department but he's not a household name at all.

 

He's more than capable of 20+ goals a season in a top league though. 

[MPH]

4-4-2 then.

[Lesta2014]

21 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

He's the complete striker.

Impressive YouTube video I must say, sometimes he comes deep, sometimes he’s in behind, all types of finishes! Surely we can’t afford him though? 

Edited 29 June by Lesta2014

[Scotch]

I wouldn't put any stock in an article that links Celtic to a £21m rated player. 

[Beechey]

 

[Ric Flair]

38 minutes ago, Lesta2014 said:

Impressive YouTube video I must say, sometimes he comes deep, sometimes he’s in behind, all types of finishes! Surely we can’t afford him though? 

If it's £20m we might. I don't see us spending that on more than 1 or 2 players but I think we'll spend £50-60m this summer + frees and loans.

[Lambert09]

surely it all depends on the length of deal. 

 

5 years and and 25m is just 5 in the books.

 

Not quite as simple for us as wages are more our issue but we surely have to roll the dice somewhere if we want a chance of surviving. 

[Jazzy_Jeff]

Doing my best not to get my hopes up.

 

#AnnounceKeinanDavis

[Muzzy_no7]

1 hour ago, MPH said:

4-4-2 then.

Actually more than likely to be one up front with a signing like this.

 

Dont recall us ever really having a complete striker? 

[lcfc sheff]

The Greek Gyokeres 

[KFS]

Foxestalk hype = he’s actually wank  

[Lesta2014]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

If it's £20m we might. I don't see us spending that on more than 1 or 2 players but I think we'll spend £50-60m this summer + frees and loans.

The link to the standard liege players is price bracket I see us getting 4/5 lads in on hoping it means we gamble with one more expensive lad. 

[StriderHiryu]

Pre-relegation Leiester would have been all over a player like this.

 

These sort of signings are always a gamble. I was so excited for Daka after seeing his pace, his work rate, striking power and goal record at RB Salzburg, but so far has not lived up to the hype. You could say the same about Iheanacho who has ended up leaving before Vardy.

 

However, with Ioannidis there are a few things that really impress me; his composure and his awareness. Daka is one that rarely goes for placed finishes, whereas this guy is a cool customer under pressure. Perhaps more importantly he's good at dropping deep and linking the play.

 

Daka I think is a player that excels in a certain setup. Imagine him under Ragnick's Austria for example. Ioannidis I think would be less good in that sort of system, but probably a lot better in the Enzo style one. But now we have Cooper, what sort of style will we play? If we imagine it's going to be backs against the walls and playing on the break, then do we need another striker? Are we planning on using Cannon?

 

Given Vardy has just one season left in him I can understand us going for a striker, but I wonder if we get one this season or next.

 

With this player, it says a lot that Sporting want him in case they lose Gyokeres, as Gyokeres has been possibly the best striker in all of Europe last season!

[kingfox]

1 hour ago, StriderHiryu said:

Pre-relegation Leiester would have been all over a player like this.

 

These sort of signings are always a gamble. I was so excited for Daka after seeing his pace, his work rate, striking power and goal record at RB Salzburg, but so far has not lived up to the hype. You could say the same about Iheanacho who has ended up leaving before Vardy.

 

However, with Ioannidis there are a few things that really impress me; his composure and his awareness. Daka is one that rarely goes for placed finishes, whereas this guy is a cool customer under pressure. Perhaps more importantly he's good at dropping deep and linking the play.

 

Daka I think is a player that excels in a certain setup. Imagine him under Ragnick's Austria for example. Ioannidis I think would be less good in that sort of system, but probably a lot better in the Enzo style one. But now we have Cooper, what sort of style will we play? If we imagine it's going to be backs against the walls and playing on the break, then do we need another striker? Are we planning on using Cannon?

 

Given Vardy has just one season left in him I can understand us going for a striker, but I wonder if we get one this season or next.

 

With this player, it says a lot that Sporting want him in case they lose Gyokeres, as Gyokeres has been possibly the best striker in all of Europe last season!

Of course YouTube vids can be quite deceiving, but after going through his goals, assists, creative passes, shots, dialogue(link up play) and dribbling from the 23/24 season, his YouTube compilations actually paint a pretty accurate picture of what he’s capable of. 
 

He has the ability to drop deep and link play, more often than not his link play is very neat and tidy, very rarely gives the ball away. He had 81% pass success last season, which is a pretty good number for a striker. 
 

Then he has the ability to run in behind defences and down the channels, as he has the pace to do so. 
 

But one of his better traits is his ability to hold the ball up, then turn his marker by using his physicality, pace and dribbling ability. At times he will just bulldoze past defenders and hold them off like they’re nothing. 
 

He also has that creative awareness, he produced 19 key passes and 24 smart passes last season, going through other leagues across Europe, not many outright strikers posted numbers like that. 
 

The only negative I would give is his shooting ability, at times he can be a little greedy, when a pass would have been the better option. 
 

If he gets more strongly linked, then I’ll post some clips of his attributes. 
 

But I think you make a very good point with the last paragraph, if Sporting cash in on Gyokeres, then I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up there unfortunately. 

[LCCFox96]

On 29/06/2024 at 19:24, StriderHiryu said:

However, with Ioannidis there are a few things that really impress me; his composure and his awareness. Daka is one that rarely goes for placed finishes, whereas this guy is a cool customer under pressure. Perhaps more importantly he's good at dropping deep and linking the play.

 

Daka I think is a player that excels in a certain setup. Imagine him under Ragnick's Austria for example. Ioannidis I think would be less good in that sort of system, but probably a lot better in the Enzo style one. But now we have Cooper, what sort of style will we play? If we imagine it's going to be backs against the walls and playing on the break, then do we need another striker? Are we planning on using Cannon?

 

On 29/06/2024 at 20:49, kingfox said:

He has the ability to drop deep and link play, more often than not his link play is very neat and tidy, very rarely gives the ball away. He had 81% pass success last season, which is a pretty good number for a striker. 
 

Then he has the ability to run in behind defences and down the channels, as he has the pace to do so. 
 

But one of his better traits is his ability to hold the ball up, then turn his marker by using his physicality, pace and dribbling ability. At times he will just bulldoze past defenders and hold them off like they’re nothing. 
 

He also has that creative awareness, he produced 19 key passes and 24 smart passes last season, going through other leagues across Europe, not many outright strikers posted numbers like that. 
 

The only negative I would give is his shooting ability, at times he can be a little greedy, when a pass would have been the better option. 

Choosing to start July 1st by catching up on the most exciting transfer rumour on the forum now that we're inside a new accounting year. False hope? Most probably 

 

Have to say I agree with these points. My girlfriend is Greek and her family live in Athens and are big Panathinaikos fans so I have been fortunate enough to see Ioannidis play live a couple of times and watched him many times on TV. As a side note, if you ever get the chance to go to a Pao home game, do it. The atmosphere is unreal.

 

Ioannidis an exciting player and would be a coup if we could get him. He's fast, powerful, and skilful, and has averaged a goal contribution roughly once every three games during his time at Pao. At 24 years old, he's still a young man, but he did really step it up last season for Pao and greatly increased his output across the domestic season. He also scored well and assisted well in the Champions League qualifiers and Europa League games against strong opposition. Like you guys say, he's key to how Pao build attacks, and is one of the men they look to to bring the other attacking players into the game in the final third. They struggle in that regard without him. His positional awareness and use of space to do this is very good - he often seems to have an extra half yard of space when receiving the ball and is tidy enough to wriggle out of smaller spaces as well.

 

He's also deceptively quick and more than decent progressively carrying the ball. At 6ft1, great on the ball, strong with his back to goal, quick, and creative, he's an imposing presence and a handful - he's got a bit of everything in that regard. Pao are obviously one of the better sides in Greece so most commonly find themselves facing lower blocks as Leicester did last season. However, I do think he could go both ways dropping deep and going in behind, which only really Vardy has excelled at at Premier League level from our current group. To that extent, I think he'd have been perfect for Enzo ball but would also offer something in the style Cooper is more likely to have to deploy this season.

 

He's a very popular player in Greece and is well regarded by football fans as a good character too.

My concerns with this transfer - outside of the price tag which I think we'd struggle to meet, and competition from other attractive clubs in Europe, is two-fold:

1) Ioannidis is definitely better playing with support around him up top. This plays to his biggest strengths at bringing others into play and linking up attacks. He could very much fit the longstanding Leicester City bracket of a striker who's better with a strike partner but we play up top on his own and he gets isolated and struggles. He has most regularly been deployed in the middle of a front 3 for Pao (often featuring Sporar and Palacios or Kotsiras). That could work nicely with Mavididi and Fatawu playing off him and running beyond him. Other times it's a front 2, most often when Pao play the other big 4 teams in Greece as they go a little more conservative. But he's never left on his own up top, so our old PL system with a lone striker would be risky. Depends how Cooper sets up really.
 

2) Bar last season where his goal scoring output improved massively, to Kingfox's point, I'd have big concerns about him finishing enough of the chances he gets in the Premier League at first. Can we afford that from an expensive signing this year? Maybe, maybe not. Hopefully he had his big breakthrough last year in terms of numbers and kicks on.

 

I'd love him to come here, but can see him ending up in Italy personally.

 

[Reginaldo]

Don’t need him we have Tom Cannon and he’s gonna be the new Shearer. Bookmark it.