It appears we are now awaiting only official confirmation from Leicester City that the club have completed the signing of highly rated 23-year-old forward Andrej Kramaric from Croatian club Rijeka, following various reports that he has signed a deal with the club.

These reports were then substantiated by a leaking of a picture of Kramaric with his representatives at Leicester City’s head offices this afternoon uploaded on the website of Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio.

With this rumored £8million transfer set to be concluded later this week depending on a decision regarding a work permit for Kramaric it could well be a major boost for Nigel Pearson’s side in their fight against relegation back to the Championship.

After an excellent start to the season, epitomised by the team’s high octane 5-3 victory over Manchester United, Leicester City have since struggled to find any sort of domestic form having recorded just one Premier League victory since September.

Both defensively and in attack, Leicester have struggled to find consistency and the club’s struggles looked to be approaching crisis point earlier this month following a verbal altercation between manager Nigel Pearson and a supporter. Nigel Pearson refused to back down in the row suggesting he was ‘very keen’ to both protect his players and stand up for himself.

In the past two league matches, Leicester have gained four points from a victory over Hull City and a hugely impressive 2-2 draw at Anfield, after finding themselves two goals down at half-time. This recent run of good form was used as a building block as Leicester beat Newcastle United 1-0 to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Leicester have to build on this momentum and the signing of Kramaric could do just that. The Croatian forward has been heavily sought after in recent months, following an excellent run of goalscoring form with both Chelsea and Juventus having looked to secure his signing ahead of this month’s transfer window.

It appeared as though Chelsea had won the race for Kramaric little more than a week ago with the plan being to loan him to Leicester for the remainder of the 2014-15 campaign. However, it is believed that the player himself wanted first-team guarantees ahead of next season from the London club which could not be given.

Furthermore there is the fact that Premier League rules would have prevented Kramaric from being signed by Chelsea and loaned out to another Premier League team in the same transfer window, as reported by the Mirror’s Darren Lewis.

As a result Leicester will sign the player on a permanent basis this month although the links with Chelsea in the future are unlikely to disappear. In footballing terms this could be a pivotal moment in Leicester’s season.

Leicester have the joint fourth lowest number of goals scored in the Premier League this year and have lacked a sharpness in front of goal which could have helped the club gain more than the 14 points they currently hold. Kramaric would provide this natural goalscoring instinct.

The Croatian burst onto the scene this season following a number of excellent displays for Rijeka, the highlight coming in a 3-1 victory over Dutch giants Feyenoord in which Kramaric netted a 13 minute hat-trick.

After a difficult spell with Dinamo Zagreb where he could never truly find his feet, Kramaric has registered a mightily impressive 55 goals in all competitions during his one- and-a-half seasons with the club. This form earned him his international debut in August 2014 and in the four appearances made for Niko Kovac’s Croatian team, Kramaric has scored twice.

Kramaric is a wonderfully versatile centre-forward. Standing at 180cm he has the ability to play as a target man or a forward able to manoeuvre with the ball at his feet and fashion chances out for himself. He much prefers utilising the technical aspects of his game, often succeeding when asked to play from wider areas of an attacking system at Rijeka.

Leicester City’s four recognised forwards, Jamie Vardy, David Nugent, Leonardo Ulloa and Chris Wood have just 11 Premier League goals between them this year. When you consider that seven have been courtesy of Ulloa alone it is unsurprising the club have looked to recruit someone of Kramaric’s acumen.

The Croatian is as yet untested at the top level however with there being concerns over whether or not he can handle the pressures of leading the line for a high profile club. Whilst Leicester are not in the upper echelons of the Premier League they are a considerable step up from Rijeka in the Croatian First Division with all due respect to the current Croatian Cup holders.

One of the key aspects of this transfer could well be the potential positive impact on the rest of Leicester’s squad. As we saw with West Ham United in 2007, Carlos Tevez’s outstanding individual performances galvanised those players around him and as such the team’s performances as a whole improved as the Hammers were able to avoid relegation on the final day of the season.

Kramaric can provide a similar level of individual quality which could galvanise his teammates and supporters will hope for the same outcome as that of West Ham. Of course the settling in period for the Croatian could be difficult as is the case with any transfer from abroad, however, if he can get past the initial struggle or score a few goals early on there is every chance this is a transfer which could spark Leicester’s revival.

Should he steer Leicester away from relegation there could be even more similarities to Tevez in that he may well be on his way to one of England’s top clubs next summer.