Leicester Signed Watson, Sold Winks and Sit 18th

Harry Winks joined Cagliari on 15 July and Tommy Watson joined Leicester City on 1 August. Five League One games later Sheffield Wednesday sit first and the Foxes sit 18th.

Both moves were rumours in a Wednesday notebook while the window still had weeks to run. They are now closed business, and the table has been ruder than the paperwork.

Leicester Closed Both Deals Before September

Cagliari announced Winks as a permanent signing from Leicester on 15 July and handed him a contract until 30 June 2028. The fee stayed undisclosed. The 30-year-old, one of Leicester’s top earners through two relegations, leaves after 109 appearances, five goals and five assists following a 2023 move from Tottenham Hotspur that cost about £10 million.

Seventeen days later Leicester completed a season-long loan from Brighton for Watson, then 20, and called him their fifth signing of the window. The winger had been listed beside Hull City, Derby County, West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United, with a Championship club described as the likely next stop. He went to League One instead.

THE SUMMER THAT CLOSED THE RUMOURS

1. 15 June 2026: The English summer window opens.
2. 9 July 2026: Sheffield Wednesday bring back Barry Bannan from Millwall and sign Louie Barry from Aston Villa.
3. 11 July 2026: Joe Lumley returns from Bristol City on a free transfer.
4. 15 July 2026: Winks signs for Cagliari until 30 June 2028.
5. 1 August 2026: Watson joins Leicester on loan for 2026/27.
6. 1 September 2026: The window shuts at 11pm BST.

Leicester’s intake grew to 14 players by deadline day, with more than 20 leaving. Watson was no longer a fifth wheel; he was one of three Brighton loanees at the King Power Stadium, alongside Harry Howell and Kamari Doyle. Russell Martin, the new manager, had already sat down with Watson over coffee in Brighton before the paperwork landed.

The Fratton Park Night That Ended It

Winks did not drift out of Leicester quietly. Ruud van Nistelrooy left him out late in the 2024/25 Premier League season, Marti Cifuentes later did the same in the Championship, and Gary Rowett restored him only for the relationship with supporters to collapse in public.

After a 1-0 defeat at Portsmouth on 18 April 2026, Winks was filmed in a heated argument with a supporter as he boarded the team bus at Fratton Park. Leicester were eight points from safety with three games left. His remaining appearances were played out to boos whenever he touched the ball.

Cagliari already knew the player. He had made 20 Serie A appearances on loan at Sampdoria in 2022/23, then gone back to Tottenham and on to Leicester. The Sardinian club’s own notice called up 10 England caps and one international goal, plus 203 Tottenham games, and closed with a simple line: “Welcome to Cagliari, Harry!”

Italy is being asked to restore a midfielder whose best years were under Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, not to warehouse a League One wage. That is the bet Cagliari placed in July. Leicester’s bet was that removing him would free the dressing room and the budget for Martin’s rebuild.

Why a Championship Loan Became League One

Watson’s last senior act in a Sunderland shirt was the stoppage-time winner against Sheffield United in the 2024/25 Championship play-off final, a 2-1 comeback at Wembley on 24 May 2025. Brighton paid £10 million for him and tied him down until June 2029. He made 10 appearances and scored once, then spent the second half of last season at Millwall, where he played 12 times and did not score as Alex Neil’s side lost a play-off semi-final to Hull.

The size of the club, the ambition for the season and the opportunity to be part of what the team is building made Leicester City a very exciting move for me.

Tommy Watson, winger, Leicester City club announcement

He later said he wanted 40 or 50 games after two quad injuries limited him to mostly substitute minutes on the south coast. Brighton sporting director Mike Cave backed the drop in division in public, saying the loan would give Watson minutes “with a club that will be aiming to compete at the top of League One.”

WHO WAS IN FOR WATSON

• West Ham United: The only Premier League club publicly credited with interest before he dropped a tier.
• Hull City, Derby County and West Bromwich Albion: Championship sides named in the same round of briefings, which is why a second-tier loan was called the likely path.
• Leicester City: The club that actually signed him, already in League One after back-to-back relegations.

On paper the move still looks like a Championship signing that slipped a division. That is why Leicester’s start is so awkward. Watson made his debut as a 70th-minute substitute in a 1-1 draw at Notts County, then spent the next weeks as an option off the bench rather than the wide threat Cave’s briefing implied.

Top of League One After Five Games

Wednesday were the club whose rumour column carried both stories, and they have used the same window in a different way. Lumley, the goalkeeper who had an emergency loan at Hillsborough in October 2025, came back on a two-year contract at Hillsborough from Bristol City on 11 July. Bannan, who already had 477 appearances for the Owls, returned from Millwall on a one-year deal two days earlier. Sporting director Simon Wilson said it was not a sentimental signing.

The summer rebuild at Hillsborough kept moving after that week. Deadline day brought Davis Keillor-Dunn on loan from Wrexham, a deal Bannan said nobody in the squad expected once he came off at Wycombe. Head coach Henrik Pedersen then took a new-look group to the top of the table.

THE 5-GAME LEAGUE ONE SNAPSHOT

Wednesday have 12 points from five matches, a seven-point and 17-place gap on Leicester, who have scored four times. WhoScored’s early split has Leicester at 64.4 percent possession, the highest in the division, which is the one number that still looks like a Championship club. The rest of the line does not.

Fourteen Arrivals Could Not Buy a Fast Start

Martin’s incomings covered every line. Conor Chaplin, Alex McCarthy, Liam Cullen, Wes Burns, Franco Ravizzoli, Admir Bristric, Ilari Kangasniemi, Emil Riis, Warren O’Hora, Kamari Doyle and John Lundstram arrived on permanent deals, with Christian McFarlane, Watson and Howell on loan. Riis, O’Hora and Lundstram went through on deadline day after a Plymouth Argyle match.

The out list was longer. Abdul Fatawu went to Ipswich, Bilal El Khannouss to Stuttgart and Jeremy Monga to Manchester City, while Jordan Ayew, Asmir Begovic, Patson Daka, Jamaal Lascelles, Ricardo Pereira and Jannik Vestergaard left on frees. Winks was the midfield name that had to move for the wage bill, and Cagliari were waiting.

Leicester still look like the biggest club in the division on a teamsheet. After five games they look like a side that changed too many faces at once and has not yet turned control of the ball into control of matches. Watson’s minutes have followed that pattern: energy off the bench, not the 40-game workload he asked for in August.

Winks Starts in Sardinia While Watson Waits

Winks has started Cagliari’s opening Serie A matches in the No. 6 shirt, including a 1-0 home win over Lecce on 7 September, without a goal or an assist. He also started Coppa Italia ties against Arezzo and Hellas Verona. The football is first-team Serie A. The noise around him is quieter than Fratton Park.

AFTER FIVE ENGLISH MATCHES

• Winks in Serie A: Three league starts for Cagliari, no goals, including the full 90 minutes in the Lecce win.
• Watson in League One: A 70th-minute debut at Notts County, then 34 minutes off the bench in a 4-0 home defeat by Oxford United on 5 September.
• Leicester’s ball: 64.4 percent possession, the division’s highest share, and four goals in five games.

Leicester posted the Oxford scoreline themselves.

https://x.com/LCFC/status/2096263589522792669

Watson and Olabade Aluko both went up for a late header at 0-4 and the ball ran wide. That is the clip the loan now lives in, not the Wembley winner against Sheffield United. Winks, 17 places and a country away in the table that Wednesday currently lead, is playing every week in Sardinia on a deal that runs to 2028.

The destinations in those summer rumours were right. Five games into League One, Wednesday have 12 points and Leicester have five, and Watson is still waiting for the run of starts Brighton sent him to find.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many games did Harry Winks play for Tottenham Hotspur?

Cagliari’s signing notice credits Winks with 203 appearances for Tottenham in league, domestic cups and European competitions, with five goals and six assists, before the Sampdoria loan and the move to Leicester.

When does Tommy Watson’s Brighton contract run to?

Watson is contracted to Brighton & Hove Albion until June 2029, so the Leicester loan, which Soccerway lists as running to 31 May 2027, is a development year rather than an exit from the south coast.

How many Serie A matches did Winks play at Sampdoria?

He made 20 Serie A appearances on loan at Sampdoria in 2022/23. That club were relegated and did not make the move permanent, which is why the Cagliari deal is his first lasting Italian contract.

What shirt number is Tommy Watson wearing at Leicester?

Watson has been listed as Leicester’s No. 23 while on loan from Brighton, with Winks taking No. 6 at Cagliari after leaving the King Power Stadium.