The latest Leicester City transfer news as the forward was one of seven players to leave the club as a free agent at the end of the season.

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Former Leicester City forward Ayoze Perez has completed a transfer to Real Betis after his time at the King Power Stadium officially came to an end.

Perez joined City from Newcastle United in the summer of 2019, and was part of the squad to win the FA Cup in 2021. The Spaniard played a part in Youri Tielemans’ winning goal in the final against Chelsea at Wembley Stadium.

Like Tielemans, Perez was one of seven players to leave the club as a free agent following the expiry of their contracts with the club. He had spent the second half of last season on loan with Real Betis.

And he has now returned to the Spanish club as a permanent signing. In a statement on their official website Betis wrote: “The Canarian attacker will once again wear the thirteen bars shirt, this time as a full-time player after ending his relationship with Leicester City FC. The new Betic footballer signs until 2027.”

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Taking to Twitter last month, Perez posted a video of highlights of his time at City, along with a message reading: “Thank you @LCFC and all of the fans for your support over the past four years.” During his time at the club he played 114 games, scoring 15 goals and providing 12 assists.

Perez’s last appearance for the club came in the 1-0 home loss against Fulham back in January, just before he completed a loan move to Betis. During his first six months with the club, he scored three four times and provided two assists in 21 appearances in La Liga and the Europa League.

There is only a month to go until Leicester City line up against Coventry in their Championship opener and yet Enzo Maresca has said there are still “big changes” to come to his squad.

It has been a quick start to the transfer window at City. Seven players have been released – a number that will rise to eight if Jonny Evans does not re-sign – and James Maddison has left for Tottenham in a £40m deal, his sale providing the cash for Conor Coady and Harry Winks to arrive for a combined £17.5m. That is just the beginning of the business being conducted at the King Power Stadium.

More sales will go through, and more players will arrive as the owners back Maresca and look to give him a squad that is worthy of City’s title-favourites tag, one that is capable of an immediate return to the Premier League. By the time City emerge from the tunnel at the King Power Stadium to face Coventry, the squad could be unrecognisable from that that sat forlorn after relegation on home turf at the end of May.

But that’s what Maresca wanted. He chose City because of the promise of getting to oversee a complete rebuild of the team

Asked how different the squad could look come the curtain-raiser on August 6, Maresca said this week: “Quite different. We have already eight or nine players who have left, so if they leave, we need to bring (a replacement) in. Probably some more players they can leave. It will be a big rebuild, a big change.

“This one of the reasons why I accepted immediately because I knew it needed a rebuild. To be part of that, for me it’s important.

“The ambitions were very high when I first met them (the hierarchy). Nobody’s happy after last season. That is normal. I really liked the ambition they had. This was one of the reasons why I decided to accept.”

Of any deal in or out over the next few weeks, Harvey Barnes’ exit will involve the most cash. City will sell the homegrown winger to fund more of their own business, and will hope that interest from around the Premier League – from Newcastle, Aston Villa, West Ham, and Tottenham – will mean they can fetch just as big a fee as they received for Maddison.

Also heading out will be Timothy Castagne, the Belgian full-back targeted by Juventus. Then, the likes of Dennis Praet and Jannik Vestergaard, players whose careers at City have run their course, will head for the exit too.

The sales may not end there. The club’s two Nigerians, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho, both only have a year left on their deals, putting their futures in doubt. At least one departure is expected in the goalkeeping department.

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And as Maresca says, for every player that goes, a replacement is required. City are currently five players down, with nine leaving and so far four arriving in the form of new recruits Coady and Winks and loan returnees Marc Albrighton and Hamza Choudhury.

Unless Maresca looks in-house – and he will consider players from the club’s development squad to step up into the first team – then at least five more signings are required even before the likes of Barnes and Castagne say their goodbyes. It’s going to be busy.

So far, City have signed two England internationals. They have know-how and they have quality and are expected to be regular starters for Maresca this coming season.

Future signings won’t be in the same mould, not least because it would put a strain on City’s wage budget to sign a host of players of Premier League calibre. The interest in teenage Man City defender Callum Doyle, on loan at Coventry last season, and in Swansea forward Joel Piroe is indicative of the sort of business City will do next. Younger players with big potential or prominent Championship performers will be targeted.

There are clear gaps in the squad that need to be addressed. Once Barnes goes, City will be even shorter on wingers, an area in which they have had very few options for years. With Winks more similar in style to Papy Mendy, they are also short on forward-thinking midfielders that could fill the boots of Youri Tielemans and Maddison.

City have a scouting and recruitment team in place that will have formulated shortlists of players to fill those spots, and they will be combined with targets suggested by Maresca. The Italian has put forward the specific players he likes to the transfer department.

He said: “We work together, 100 per cent. Of course I give them some players. They also give me some options. We work together.”

It’s likely that on Maresca’s personal shortlist there will be one or two prospects from Man City. His reputation with the treble-winners is sky high, not only for his work as assistant manager last season, but with the way he brought on their best talents when he was development squad manager in the 2020-21 season. If Sheffield United can attract two young Man City players on loan – Tommy Doyle and James McAtee – to help their promotion bid, then chances are high of Leicester being able to do the same.