Foxes face-off Tigers in compensation deadlock

Leicester City's move for Nigel Pearson - who was expected to be named  as manager yesterday - has stalled as talks over compensation for the Hull City manager have reached a deadlock.

Locking horns: Hull's Allam and Leicester's Raksriaksorn are vying for the
signature of Nigel Pearson

The Tigers were reported on Tuesday to have agreed a fee of around £400,000 as repayment for the loss of Pearson to the Foxes but that figure is now believed to have doubled, with insiders at the KC Stadium claiming that Leicester will be expected to pay a hefty £1 million to capture back their man.

Pearson's eighteen-month reign on Humberside has almost certainly run its course. He has not taken training all week at Hull's Millhouse Woods Lane training complex after admitting his desire to speak to Leicester and is likely to be ousted even if no agreement can be reached between the two clubs.

The Foxes will have to agree to pay £1 million - to secure Pearson and assistants Craig Shakespeare Steve Walsh - unless a compromise can be reached. A third option is for Pearson and his backroom staff to resign but that would leave them open to legal action for breach of contract.

Both Leicester chairman Vichai Raksriaksorn and Hull owner Assem Allam have formidable business reputations, with neither likely to want to lose face by conceding defeat in the deal for Pearson. But Raksriaksorn has insisted before that he will not be held to ransom in transfer dealings.

Raksriaksorn had hoped to have a new manager in place by this weekend, leaving the new man a whole week to prepare his new squad for the visit of Crystal Palace a week on Sunday. That opportunity is slipping as the days pass and Pearson will be growing increasingly frustrated at his lack of input into whichever squad he will be managing after the international break.