Richard Stearman has today (Wednesday) joined Championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee.

The 20-year-old defender, who joined the Foxes back in 1998 after being spotted by a scout playing for Harborough Town, was named the club's Player-of-the-Year at the end of last season.

However, following the Foxes' relegation from the second tier of English football and with only a year remaining on his contract, the England Under-21 international stated his desire to move away from the Walkers Stadium in search of a fresh challenge.

Chief Executive Lee Hoos said: "Richard is an emerging talent who we were keen to hold on to and help us in our quest to gain promotion from League One.

"However, his representatives made it clear to the Chairman that they were not interested in discussing new terms due to our League One status, which is very frustrating for us.

"There is no way we could allow a contract to expire and face the prospect of a tribunal, so it was in the best interests of the club to secure the deal with Wolves."

Chairman Milan Mandaric added: "Richard has been a loyal servant to Leicester City for over 10 years and we wish him well.

"If we had stayed up, I think we could have agreed a new contract with the player, but unfortunately this was not to be.

"However, I can assure our fans that our new manager Nigel Pearson is fully focused on strengthening the squad and has already identified several targets, who he'd like to bring to the club before the start of the season."

After progressing through the Academy ranks, Stearman made 130 appearances for the Foxes first-team and scored 11 goals.

He made his debut as a substitute at Cardiff City in October 2004 before scoring his first goal at home to Millwall in April 2005.

Stearman has since been a regular in the City starting line-up and has also been involved at England Under-17, 18, 19 and 21 levels.