Leicester sign Genk midfielder El Khannouss for £21m

Bilal El Khannouss was voted the Belgian Pro League's Young Player of the Season for 2023-24

Leicester have signed attacking midfielder Bilal El Khannouss from Genk for a fee in the region of £21m.

The 20-year-old has signed a four-year deal with the Premier League side.

He won the Belgian Pro League's Young Player of the Season award in 2023-24 and was also part of the Morocco squad who won bronze at the Olympic Games in Paris earlier this month.

He also featured for his country at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as they reached the semi-finals.

The Belgium-born player started his career at Anderlecht before moving to Genk, for whom he made 51 appearances in all competitions last season.

"I’m very happy," he said. "Leicester City is a big club in England and it’s always a dream for a young guy like me to play in the Premier League so I’m very excited and I hope to achieve big things here.

"I talked with the manager, and I immediately had a good feeling with the club."

Reports in Belgium suggested El Khannouss had not trained since Monday in order to force a move to King Power Stadium.

"With a bit more experience, he might have handled it a bit differently in the past few days," said Genk coach Thorsten Fink at a news conference in Belgium on Thursday.

Leicester host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday after collecting one point from their opening two games.