- Leicester City agree the transfer of Welsh international Danny Ward from Liverpool
- The 25-year-old goalkeeper signs a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee
- He was part of the Wales squad that reached the semi-finals of Euro 2016
- Ward becomes Leicester City’s fourth signing of the summer after Ricardo Pereira, Jonny Evans and James Maddison
The 25-year-old has signed a four-year contract at King Power Stadium and becomes the Foxes’ fourth summer signing after the arrival of attacking midfielder James Maddison, Northern Ireland international defender Jonny Evans and Portuguese full-back Ricardo Pereira.
A Wales international, Ward’s addition will bring plenty of competition to City’s senior goalkeeping ranks as he joins fellow ‘keepers Kasper Schmeichel and Eldin Jakupović in Claude Puel’s squad ahead of the new campaign.
Ward made his senior debut for Wales in 2012 and started in their opening Euro 2016 victory against Slovakia in a squad that, with the help of City star Andy King, would go on the reach the semi-finals of the competition.
Speaking to LCFC TV, Ward said: “I’m delighted to be here and I’m really looking forward to the future with this Football Club. I’ve come here to develop my all-round game and hopefully help deliver some more success. The Club has had that in recent years and hopefully there’s more to come in the future."
Leicester City manager Claude Puel said: “I’m very happy to welcome Danny to Leicester City Football Club. Pre-season preparations have started well for us and with Danny joining the group, it will give us even more competition in the squad, which is crucial for us ahead of what will be another very competitive Premier League campaign.”
Born in Wrexham, Ward started his career at his local club, Wrexham A.F.C., but made his senior debut in a man-of-the-match performance on loan at Tamworth.
Those displays saw Liverpool move for the goalkeeper in January 2012. He developed in their Under-18s and Under-23s sides before being promoted to the Reds’ first team and gaining valuable senior experience on loan to Morecambe and Aberdeen.
He was recalled to Liverpool in 2016 and soon underlined his potential with an impressive debut display in a 2-1 Premier League victory at Bournemouth in April of that year, followed by a further run out in a 3-1 win over Swansea City.
Ward would then join Huddersfield Town on a season-long loan in 2016/17, where he proved to be a key figure - playing 46 times as the Terriers were promoted to the Premier League.
The goalkeeper made crucial saves during Huddersfield’s penalty shootout victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the play-off semi-final and repeated his heroics in the spot-kick win over Reading in the final at Wembley.
Ward, who started for Liverpool at King Power Stadium in last season’s Carabao Cup, has represented Wales at schoolboy, Under-17s, Under-19s, Under-21s and senior international level and is now the third Welsh international in the squad along with King and George Thomas.
Ward will link up with his new team-mates on Monday for the week-long trip to Austria, where they will face games against Turkish side Akhisarspor and Serie A side Udinese as the squad step up their preparations for the 2018/19 season.
All five of Leicester City’s pre-season fixtures can be seen live on LCFC TV.