Caleb Okoli: Shining the Spotlight on Leicester’s Italian Defender
It has been four months since Leicester City won the EFL Championship title — it may as well be four years. From the squad that achieved an immediate return to England’s top-flight, manager Enzo Maresca has parted ways for Chelsea and taken the club’s prized midfield asset Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall with him to Stamford Bridge in a €35.4 million deal, whilst other veteran leaders like Kelechi Iheanacho, Marc Albrighton and Dennis Praet have left the club following the expiry of their contracts as part of Leicester’s mission to reduce stress upon their wage bill.
Plenty of new faces have made the move to the King Power Stadium; Facundo Buonanotte (19) has joined on loan from Brighton, whilst Oliver Skipp (23) has arrived from Tottenham in a €23.5m deal. The Foxes have reinforced their veteran core with the signing of 31-year-old winger Bobby De Cordova-Reid on a free transfer from Fulham, whilst they’ve also acquired Michael Golding (18) from Chelsea’s academy.
Bilal El Khannouss (20) has left Belgian side Genk and joined Leicester City for €20.5 million, whilst Steve Cooper’s side have also completed a double swoop by signing two attackers from Crystal Palace — Jordan Ayew (32) for €5.9 million and Odsonne Edouard (26) on loan. Moreover, Leicester’s automatic promotion triggered their permanent signing of Abdul Fatawu Issahaku for €17 million.
The Perils of Mismanagement at the Highest Level | Leicester City’s Loss of Identity
Last but not least, they’ve completed the signing of Caleb Okoli on a five-year contract for €14 million. After a decade at Atalanta, Okoli has taken his talents to Leicester City and departed Italy for the first time in his life. Born in Vicenza, Italy to Nigerian parents, Okoli is Yoruba and Igbo by descent, but so far, he has chosen to represent the Azzurri as opposed to the Super Eagles, representing Italy at the U19, U20 and U21 level.
Okoli joined Atalanta’s academy in the summer of 2015, but he would have to wait seven years before making his debut for La Dea. He was loaned out to SPAL and made 19 appearances for the Biancazzurri, but he was unable to prevent them from suffering relegation to Serie B, before playing 28 matches in the second tier for Cremonese and leading them to a second-place finish and ending a 26-year drought from Serie A.
He returned to Atalanta in the summer of 2022 and finally managed to make his mark at his boyhood club, with Gian Piero Gasperini integrating the youngster into his three-man defence. Okoli made his debut on the opening day of that season in a 2-0 away win against Sampdoria, playing LCB alongside the experienced duo of Rafael Toloi and Berat Djimsiti. Okoli would start nine out of Atalanta’s first 12 games, but he was soon overshadowed by the emergence of Giorgio Scalvini in the Atalanta side.
Okoli barely featured as Scalvini took his spot in central defence and managed to play 32 games where Caleb Okoli only featured in 17. He would only feature for Atalanta four more times after November 2022, and they were four sporadic substitution appearances in the final four games of the season.
Giorgio Scalvini – Another Hidden Gem Growing in Gasperini’s Latest Atalanta Revolution
The defender joined newly promoted Frosinone and took his game to the next level and starred for Frosinone throughout the entire campaign under Eusebio Di Francesco, but he was unable to keep them afloat in the top-flight. The final day match-up between Udinese and Frosinone would pit two teams against each other in a pivotal relegation fixture — the winner would secure promotion, and the loser would be sent packing to the second-tier.
Frosinone had 21 shots to Udinese’s 10, but they were unable to find an answer at home as Keinan Davis came off the bench and scored the sole goal of the match in the 76th minute. After an impressive start to the campaign, Frosinone had taken their foot off the gas and fallen into a relegation battle with just three wins from their last 19, and they would pay the ultimate price.
As for Okoli though, he had played far more football than in his previous two loan spells for SPAL and for Cremonese and was involved in 34 Serie A games and three Coppa Italia games, amassing over 3215 minutes of football. He averaged 4.4 clearances per game which is seventh best in Serie A from last season with Jaka Bijol leading the way with 5.7. Okoli also averages 1.6 tackles per game and 0.9 blocks per game — the sixth-most in Italy’s top-flight and trailing slightly behind first-place Mattia Bani (1.1).
The downside for Okoli is his disciplinary record and tendency to overcommit and give away fouls and deliver reckless tackles — this could be his downfall in the Premier League in a faster-paced league. Serie A is more methodical, and everything is about positional play and tactics, whilst the Premier League has a higher-octane tempo to its play. He picked up nine yellows for Frosinone last season and missed one game due to suspension against Juventus in 2023.
An unused substitute in their first two matches under Cooper, Okoli was given his Leicester debut on Tuesday in their EFL Cup fixture against League Two side Tranmere Rovers, filling in for the veteran Danish defender Jannik Vestergaard and partnering Wout Faes in the middle of the backline.
Whilst he was caught out on one occasion and gave away a goal-scoring chance to Tranmere, Okoli was able to keep things tidy at the back with four clearances and 72 out of 76 passes completed as well as two out of three long balls completed, and he came out on top in all four of his aerial battles in the King Power and played all 90 minutes in Leicester’s 4-0 win.
The 23-year-old defender closed out the month of August by making his Premier League debut, starting alongside Faes in central defense. Okoli made five clearances, three tackles, won two fouls and completed 62 of 68 passes, whilst he also blocked a shot, registered an interception, and came out on top in five out of nine ground duels. He played all but five minutes of their 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, with Kasey McAteer being thrown on in the final minutes as Leicester desperately pushed for an equalizer.
Okoli has gone through four different loan spells in the past four years in Italy, but today, he finally has the chance to knuckle down and find a permanent home at Leicester. It looks set to be a learning period for the 23-year-old as he attempts to bide his time and learn from Belgian international Faes and Denmark international Vestergaard, but there’s reason to believe that he can play an important role at the back under Cooper. Imposing in the air and quick enough to make up space in transition, Okoli has the makings of a top-class defender and could end up being one of the best bargain buys for Leicester in quite some time.
By: Scot Munroe / @scot_munroe
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images