When Enzo Maresca was appointed as Leicester City manager in the wake of their demoralising relegation back to the Championship, evident perks were attached.

One of those, of course, is his Manchester City connections.

The Italian operated as second-in-command to Pep Guardiola prior to trading the Etihad Stadium for the East Midlands over the summer, and also spent time coaching the club's Elite Development Squad, overseeing the nurturing and progression of some of the country's best young talent.

Unsurprisingly, he sought to tap into those relations and brought defender Callum Doyle to the club on a season-long loan, after he starred in Coventry City's ascent to the play-off final last term.

But there was an overarching feeling that Maresca was going to continue to optimise his credit in the bank at City and bring even more prospects to the King Power Stadium across the summer.

A player that seemed destined to potentially make the switch was James McAtee, who had been subjected to extensive interest after impressing on loan during Sheffield United's promotion campaign last time out.

Indeed, Leicester had wanted to add McAtee to their already-strong attacking ranks, but the hopes of that have now been ruled out completely.

Leicester City miss out on Man City's James McAtee

This is according to talkSPORT's Alex Crook, who has claimed that McAtee is set to rejoin Sheffield United in the Premier League on another season-long loan amid "strong" interest from the Foxes.

The McAtee development was then followed up by a report from Football Insider that detailed the additional interest displayed from top-flight duo Wolves and Nottingham Forest, meaning that a deal for Leicester will have likely been hard to secure in spite of Maresca's links.

It was previously reported via Alan Nixon's Patreon report that Guardiola had been running the rule over McAtee and was set to decide who would stay at the club this season out of him and fellow homegrown prodigy Cole Palmer, who has now completed oan eye-catching transfer to rivals Chelsea.

Would Man City's James McAtee have been a good signing for Leicester City?

For the Foxes faithful, this one will certainly sting.

McAtee was simply remarkable at times across his stay at Brammall Lane, with his balance and ball control allowing him to evade opposition defenders with ease and travel with possession into dangerous areas of the pitch, which subsequently yielded the nine goals he tallied up amid 21 starts in red and white.

A creative midfielder, the 20-year-old plays beyond his age with intelligence, vision and the inventive ability to break lines and carve out crucial chances, something that would not go amiss at Leicester.

Sure enough, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has occupied that more advanced creative role in Leicester's midfield today, and has done a mightily impressive job at that, but the strength in depth that they would have had with McAtee would really have been something to behold.

It is not necessarily a make or break not getting him, but he undoubtedly would have been a more-than-welcome addition to the side.

[footballleagueworld]