Foxes midfielder Richie Wellens joined the Club from Doncaster Rovers in the summer of 2009 and has established himself as an integral figure in the first team setup.

An aggressive, energetic midfielder able to dictate the pace of a game with his excellent range of passing, Richie arrived on Filbery Way with some pedigree, having started his career with Manchester United, playing in the same youth side as the likes of John O'Shea and Wes Brown.

In March 2000, Wellens joined Blackpool for a nominal fee, and went on to make a massive impact for the Lancashire club, scoring 19 times in 226 appearances for the Seasiders and winning promotion to League 1 in 2001.

Following a 2005 move to Oldham, Richie spent two years with the Latics before agreeing a deal with League 1 rivals Doncaster in 2007, winning promotion to the Championship with Rovers in his first season and contributing seven goals.

Having shown he could step his game up a level in the Championship, Wellens' impressed Nigel Pearson sufficiently for the then-Foxes manager to part with a reported £1million to bring him to LE2 in the summer of 2009 and Wellens quickly became the fulcrum around which City's promotion challenge was built.

Named Player of the Year at the end of the 2010-11 season, Wellens was awarded the Club's vice-captaincy by Sven-Goran Eriksson, wearing the armband for the pre-season friendly against Real Madrid at King Power Stadium ahead of the 2011-12 campaign.