Leicester confident £9.7m striker Andrej Kramaric will get work permit

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/jan/08/leicester-andrej-kramaric-work-permit

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The Leicester City manager, Nigel Pearson, is confident the club can win over the Home Office and secure a work permit for club-record signing Andrej Kramaric. The 23-year-old Croatia striker, understood to have cost City £9.7m from Rijeka, has agreed personal terms on a three-and-a-half-year deal which can only be signed once the permit has been granted.

With only four caps to his name, Pearson and the Foxes already know they face initial rejection of their application as Kramaric has not made enough international appearances over the past two years. However, with Kramaric having played for Croatia from Under-14s through to 21s, and the fact he has recently made his breakthrough into the senior squad and scored goals, victory on appeal is likely.

“We’ve a pretty strong case with his international status, his form – internationally and at club level – and the fact he’s represented Croatia at every level,” Pearson said. “It’s fair to say he has a very bright future and hopefully that will be taken into consideration.

“I’m convinced he is very much a player who can improve the quality of English football by being here and he has a goalscoring record that speaks for itself. The fact there was interest from a number of big clubs is also significant in that it shows he is a player who is rated both domestically and across Europe as well.”

Kramaric will join a City side currently bottom of the table but if he can reproduce the form shown for past clubs he could be the key to survival. Last year’s Croatian player of the year has scored 28 goals in 31 appearances for Rijeka this season, including a hat-trick against Feyenoord in a Europa League tie.

Having caught the eye of Chelsea, Pearson added: “He is a player we’ve had on the radar for a while. I’ve been very impressed with him as a person and he is a very important signing for us.

“It speaks volumes of the lad he is keen to play a positive part for us given our current position in the league. There is enough potential for us to make progress and he can play a big part in that.”

Pearson, though, declined to comment on speculation Leicester have made an improved offer for the Wigan midfielder Shaun Maloney after an initial bid was rejected a couple of days ago.