According to the Football Insider, Oxford United have won the race for Leicester City defender Ben Nelson.
Multiple Championship sides, including the likes of Sunderland, Bristol City and Portsmouth were also chasing the 20-year-old signature, but the U’s have seemingly won the race on deadline day.
The deal is a loan deal, with the centre-back highly rated by Leicester. However, with the Foxes’ promotion back up to the Premier League, game time would have been hard to come by for Nelson. The youngster has therefore agreed on a love move back down to the Championship.
He spent the beginning of last season on loan at National League side Rochdale, before stepping up to EFL football with Doncaster Rovers in the latter stages of the 2023/24 campaign. He made 12 appearances at Rochdale, and 15 appearances at Doncaster, before returning to Leicester and playing five times in the Championship, scoring one goal against Queens Park Rangers in the process.
Des Buckingham has had an extremely busy transfer window in his first full season at the Kassam, with 15 new players through the door. Oxford managed to win promotion up to the Championship via the play-offs, where Buckingham and his team won 2-0 at Wembley against Bolton Wanderers. Despite losing their previous manager Liam Manning to Bristol City halfway through the season, they still managed to achieve promotion.
Their Championship rebuild started early in the window, with the likes of Will Vaulks, Peter Kioso, Jamie Cumming and Louie Sibley all agreeing permanent deals with the club. The likes of Idris El Mizouni and Matt Phillips followed suit. Loanee pair Malcolm Ebiowei and Dane Scarlett have made a temporary switch to Oxfordshire, with international players Hidde ter Advest and Marselino Ferdinan moving to England to join the Championship outfit. Former Bournemouth player Siriki Dembele was the latest to join, with his move from Birmingham City confirmed days ago.
Despite the U’s overall positive window, they have likely experienced a sense of disappointment with star player Josh Murphy deciding to not extend his contract at the Kassam, and instead move to another newly promoted side Portsmouth.
Bukingham’s side has started reasonably well for a side that’s just been promoted, picking up three points from a possible nine, and advancing into the second round of the EFL Cup. However, a loss to Coventry City midweek means they are out of that domestic competition.
Writer’s View
Winning the race for Nelson shows how attractive the club is at the moment for players. The club has so much potential, but off-the-field issues are letting them down as things stand. They have had a positive window, but need to get back to winning ways to stay competitive in the Championship. At the time of writing, the club sit 12th, but that could quickly change as other Championship sides start to pick up form.
The U’s are a bit short of defensive options in that centre-back position, so being able to agree one more deal before the window shuts will give them a big boost. Nelson is highly rated by his Leicester counterparts, and provides depth, as well as youth in that role. It is no secret that in a league as gruelling as the Championship, the more bodies in the squad the better, with the league being tremendously tough to navigate.
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