Leicester may miss one who got away

THEY may have kept England hero Harry Maguire – for now at least – but there was no disguising the gaping hole in Leicester’s team at Old Trafford

Foxes fans chanted Maguire’s name but would they have preferred to have instead kept playmaker and lock-picker Riyad Mahrez ahead of their big centre-half?

The early evidence on the opening night of the new Premier League season is that the 2016 champions will hugely miss Algerian trickster Mahrez.

Not because Leicester looked impotent or short of ideas without him – far from it.

But every one of the teams with aspirations to be in the top four and in the hunt for the big prizes needs a special talent like Mahrez.

Leicester banked £60million from Manchester City for Mahrez with Pep Guardiola recognising the sparkling qualities of the winger who can turn a game in a flash.

When Guardiola wants you it is clear you are on another level to most players. For Mahrez think Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez, Mohamed Salah and Dele Alli – stand-out talents who elevate teams above the norm.

It will be a long time before Leicester again have a shining star as bright as Mahrez – and not even the £60m will buy them a like-for-like replacement.

But in £22m former Norwich star James Maddison Leicester have unearthed a gem who could go a long way to cushioning the loss of Mahrez.

Scorer of 15 goals and 11 assists for Norwich in the Championship last season, playmaker Maddison did not lack confidence against United.

And he almost stunned Old Trafford with a superb effort to bring a top save from David De Gea.

He will never replace Mahrez, of course, but Maddison has more than enough talent to carve himself an equally big Foxes fan club.