Leicester manager Craig Shakespeare claims he has never seen anything like Adrien Silva's botched deadline-day move to the King Power

Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare claims he has never experienced anything like the plight facing Adrien Silva, Leicester's deadline-day signing whose move was blocked by FIFA.

The Sporting Lisbon midfielder was lined up to replace Danny Drinkwater — who left for Chelsea over the summer — but Leicester are still waiting on FIFA to ratify the deal.

Though a £22million fee and personal terms were agreed, the Premier League club were 14 seconds late with the paperwork, rendering the midfielder unable to play - and Shakespeare admits the situation is like nothing he has ever seen previously. 

Adrien Silva, whose move to Leicester was blocked by FIFA, in the stands at the King Power

Adrien Silva, whose move to Leicester was blocked by FIFA, in the stands at the King Power

Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare admitted this week: 'I've never encountered this before'

Foxes manager Craig Shakespeare admitted this week: 'I've never encountered this before'

'You can do all the courses in the world but I've never encountered this before. Legally somebody might tell me I'm not allowed to talk to him but the human side says you want to find out how he's feeling,' he told the Telegraph.


'He's a footballer in limbo through no fault of his own or mine. You want to make him feel appreciated, which is why I invited him into the dressing room to see the players on Tuesday night (after the Carabao Cup win against Liverpool).'

The Portugal international's absence means Leicester's midfield options are depleted following the departure of Drinkwater.

The 27-year-old completed a £30m move to Stamford Bridge on deadline day and Shakespeare bemoaned his inability to keep hold of one Leicester's 'best players'.

Shakespeare bemoaned the deadline-day departure of Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for £30m

Shakespeare bemoaned the deadline-day departure of Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for £30m

'Sometimes players see the opportunity to move to a bigger club and the financial rewards that might bring. Danny made it clear he wanted to move and didn't want to be here. The relationship we'd had up to that point had been very good. 

'I'll be honest, I wasn't happy losing one of my best players. The big disappointment is I didn't want to sell him for any price and ultimately I have to abide by people above me because they run the club.'

One player who didn't earn a move during the summer was winger Riyad Mahrez. 

The Algerian handed in a transfer request before spending deadline day in the airport trying to seal a move away from the King Power. 

Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez handed in a transfer request but failed to seal a summer move

Leicester winger Riyad Mahrez handed in a transfer request but failed to seal a summer move

After no deal was completed, however, the winger returned to Leicester duty and Shakespeare said the ordeal was another learning curve in his coaching career.

'It was a real knife-edge time and we were in the hands of other people. We understood he wanted to move because he'd made it clear but the owners wanted a realistic price. 

'Dealing with that was another moment in the managerial experience. He came back to training after the window closed and we were calling him Tom Hanks out of The Terminal.'