After acquiring Stephy Mavididi, Leicester City struck gold, as the winger was crucial to the Foxes’ Championship title victory
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For a cost of €7.5 million (£6.4 million), the 26-year-old left Ligue 1 team Montpellier in the summer of 2023, according to Foot Mercato.
Mavididi was a key member of Enzo Maresca’s championship-winning team and has been an absolute revelation at King Power Stadium.
Surging on the left flank, he felt at times during the 2023–24 season like a cheat code. Now, he will be looking to repeat his achievements in the Premier League.
Defenders in the Championship will undoubtedly be relieved to see him go.
Stephy Mavididi made an immediate impact at luton town .
After spending three seasons in France, Mavididi became interested in the Foxes. He quickly established himself as a mainstay in Maresca’s squad because to his ability to constantly create problems for opposing defenses and his skill in the closing third. In the Championship, a winger with flair like his might be a true asset, and he had plenty of it.
He immediately made an impact for the Foxes, helping Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s winner against Coventry City on the first day of play.
He played a fast ball for Dewsbury-Hall after pulling the defender out and then executed a cunning dummy run to set up the midfielder for a goal. It could serve as a precursor to future developments for Championship backlines.
As Leicester gained momentum, he went on to score the game-winning goal in the Foxes’ second encounter against Huddersfield Town and performed admirably in a 4-1 triumph at St. Mary’s against Southampton.
Mavididi’s striking displays were prominent as Maresca’s team demonstrated their abilities in the second division.
Although Mavididi was too skilled for the Championship, she had hints of instability.
The Leicester winger’s outstanding season debut made him a serious threat in the Championship, but he would eventually struggle with consistency.
By the end of the season, he had eight goals and four assists as the Foxes intensified their quest for promotion, building on his two goals and two assists in his first six games.
By the end of January, Mavididi had scored twice more, but he went through a dry spell in which he was unable to contribute to a goal or an assist in nine games from February to April.
Leicester’s struggles in the latter part of the season were partly caused by that form, and Maresca was unapologetically honest in expressing his expectations for his standout attacker.
In March, the manager—who is now at Chelsea—was glad to give him a message during an interview with Leicestershire Live.
He stated: “Stephy’s body language needs to be improved a little bit.
He hasn’t been performing at his best this season. He’s been excellent for a few weeks now. Playing over forty-five games in March between the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, and the Championship is routine.
“Being human, they occasionally become tired during the season. It is what it is, really.”
But in the end, Mavididi demonstrated that class is permanent and form is only transitory by excelling when it mattered.
In the latter stages of the 2024–25 season, the wide player found his attacking form again. In the final eight games, he scored twice and assisted twice, helping Leicester win the Championship and earn a return to the Premier League.
