Former Argentine international Esteban Cambiasso has defied links to Tottenham Hotspur and River Plate by landing with one of the Premier League’s newcomers. Months after the 34-year-old’s contract expired with Inter Milan, Cambiasso has landed a one-year deal at Leicester City, with the Foxes announcing the surprising signing via the club’s web site on Thursday.
The defensive midfielder leaves the San Siro after a 10-year career with the Nerazzurri, who he joined in 2004 after two seasons at Real Madrid. During his time in Milan, Cambiasso won five league titles, four Italian Cups, one UEFA Champions League, and one FIFA Club World Cup, serving a crucial role in the team’s league-cup-Europe triumph in 2009-10.
It’s a résumé that makes Cambiasso’s signing a coup for Leicester, who’ve relied on Dean Hammond and Andy King in midfield through the first two rounds of the season. Though Cambiasso is 34 years old, he is coming off a season where he made 32 starts, scoring four times in his first season under head coach Walter Mazzarri.
During his decade at Inter, Cambiasso averaged 31.5 appearances per season, adding 41 league goals from defensive midfield.
While it will be strange to see the 52-time Argentine international in something other than Inter’s black and blue, it will be equally inexplicable to see the slick scalped icon in a side playing second division soccer a year ago. But credit to Leicester for managing to lure one of the last decade’s best defensive midfielders to the East Midlands. Even at 34 years old, Cambiasso should make a major difference in the Foxes’s quest for survival.