Shakespeare remaining upbeat over Silva saga

Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare remains positive over Adrien Silva’s protracted transfer to the club despite seemingly no progress being made on his registration.

The 2015-16 Premier League champions agreed a deal worth up to €29.5million with Sporting CP to bring the Portugal midfielder to the King Power Stadium during the closing hours of the transfer window.

But Leicester reportedly missed the deadline by 14 seconds and the matter is now in the hands of FIFA, the Football Association and the club’s legal team.

Silva has been training on his own while the Foxes try to complete his registration and Shakespeare will not stop exerting pressure in a bid to resolve the situation. 

“It is my job to do that [ask for updates],” Shakespeare said. “I want the player. I want to involve him so it is my job to keep asking and I will keep doing that.

“I think you have to be positive. I want to be positive for the lad because when I speak to him it is like a little boy saying, ‘please can I come and play with your ball’.

“I am aware that sometimes there iare only so many times you can tell a person, ‘you need to train in there.’ For all parties, the quicker we can get him in there the better.

“He wants it all dealt with quicker. He is frustrated but he understands what the legal side of it is as well.”

#lcfc boss Craig Shakespeare talks to the press ahead of the visit of Liverpool to King Power Stadium on Saturday evening. #LeiLiv pic.twitter.com/l6pprN5SLR

— Leicester City (@LCFC) September 22, 2017

Shakespeare, meanwhile, confirmed that midfielder Matty James could be out for up to six weeks with an Achilles injury. 

The 26-year-old sustained the injury against Chelsea earlier this month and was forced to miss the club’s fixtures against Huddersfield Town and Liverpool. 

James has suffered a string of injuries during his time at the club, but Shakespeare believes his past experiences will help him bounce back.

“I’m gutted for Matty as an individual because of the timing of it,” he said. “He’s worked his way back but it’s something he can deal with mentally as it’s short term rather than long term.

“I know what Matty has been through. He’s at that stage where he wants to do well and train and doesn’t want to sit out training. I have to say, for the last 18 months, including the Barnsley loan, he hasn’t missed a day’s training.

“He picked this up against Chelsea and carried on. Maybe if he’d have come off, he might have protected it a bit more, but that’s the nature and the character of the player.”