Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has played down reports that the club are about to sign Manchester United striker Federico Macheda, who will be available on a free transfer in the summer. The forward is out of contract in a few weeks time. He has impressed heavily during his loan spell at Birmingham in the last few weeks. It has helped the club avoid relegation by the skin of their teeth. Macheda has been widely linked with a return to Italian football, but he recently quashed those rumours by saying that he would be happy to stay in England.

This has led to rumours linking him with a move to Leicester, who were recently promoted to the Premier league as the champions. Pearson is widely expected to spend a lot of money in the summer in order to improve his squad. Leicester may have won the championship with a comfortable advantage, but their squad is not of the same quality to play against their Premier league compatriots next season. Pearson has already begun work on improving the squad, but he has rejected rumours that Macheda is one of players he is looking at the moment.

He has also rejected rumours linking Leicester with a move for Bolton’s Mark Davies.
“As soon as we [secured promotion] agents link us with players, I have absolutely no intention of following up. The vast majority of the names we’re looking at you’ve probably never even heard of. Our recruitment strategy is exactly the same as it was before, it is just that we may be able to move a little bit quicker. We have an opportunity to maybe do a little bit of early business, but some of the names I’ve been told we’ve been linked with I’ve laughed at,” said Pearson after the final match of the season.