Zak Whitbread joins Leicester City after Norwich exit

Leicester City manager Nigel Pearson has completed the signing of former Norwich City defender Zak Whitbread on a two-year contract.

The 28-year-old centre-half was a free agent having been released by the Premier League side in the summer after two and a half years at Carrow Road.

Pearson said: "I'm delighted. Zak is a player of great quality that will add a huge amount of experience.

Ex-Liverpool trainee Whitbread played 21 games last season, all starts.

Born in in the United States, Whitbread moved to England at a young age and came through the youth ranks at Liverpool.

He initially joined Millwall on loan from the Reds, before making the move permanent in 2006 and joined the Canaries in January 2010.

The Foxes have already signed Ritchie De Laet, Matty James, Jamie Vardy and Marko Futacs this summer and Whitbread becomes Pearson's fifth summer signing.

Pearson added: "He will be a great character to have as part of the group and, having only won promotion from the Championship a little over a year ago with Norwich, he knows exactly what it takes to get out of this division.

"We're really pleased with the business we have been able to do so far this summer, we have made some valuable additions to the squad and Zak certainly falls into that category."