Wout Phase celebrates Leicester’s goal. (Photo by Karl Lesseen/Getty Images)
Standard Liege striker Thomas Henry has revealed that Leicester City manager John Rudkin blocked his move to Swansea City several years ago.
The French attacker has revealed that Swansea City wanted to sign him during his time at Haut Leuven, but Foxes sporting director John Rudkin blocked the move despite his repeated requests.
Thomas Henry talks about failed move to Swansea
“I had agreed to go to Swansea. I got a call in March from my coach at the time. It all happened very early on. The problem was that I had scored 21 goals. My market value was going up,” he said through Walfoot.
“It was Leicester’s sporting director John Rudkin, not Leuven, who handled the transfer. The transfer did not go through. Swansea made two offers and I begged Rudkin to accept them, but that did not happen and Swansea withdrew from negotiations.”
Rudkin stopped Henry from moving.
Henry played for Au Leuven from 2019 to 2021. The Belgian club is owned by the same group that owns Leicester City. After an impressive season with the Belgian side, in which he scored 21 goals and provided seven assists, Swansea wanted to sign him and also made several offers to Leuven. However, Mr Rudkin took charge of the negotiations and prevented the player from joining the Welsh club. Henry ended up joining Venice in the summer of 2021.
Rudkin is currently Leicester City’s Director of Football and has been on the O Leuven board since 2017.
The striker feels that his increased market value after his excellent performances for the Belgian club led to the transfer collapse. They were holding out for more money than Swansea had offered. Rudkin refused to budge and the Welsh club had to withdraw from the race.
