New signing Woyo Coulibaly may not be parachuted straight into the Leicester City starting line-up this weekend with manager Ruud van Nistelrooy suggesting he’s been signed as “cover”.

The French right-back joined on a four-and-a-half-year deal from Parma on Wednesday night in a transfer worth around £3m. He was in the stands at the King Power Stadium as City lost 2-0 to Crystal Palace, their sixth straight Premier League defeat.

City are desperate for improved showings in defence having kept just one clean sheet in 21 outings this term, and having conceded the second-highest tally of goals. But it’s not certain that Coulibaly will come straight in to replace James Justin against Fulham.

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Asked what Coulibaly will bring to City, van Nistelrooy said: “We need some cover in the backline. Right-back we were thin with the injury to Ricardo (Pereira) in the long term.

“We needed personnel there to come and help us. He’s an excellent signing for us. Powerful, strong player who also has good feet. He will add some qualities to our team.”

The 25-year-old full-back was signed for Parma by former City manager Enzo Maresca, who is a former Malaga team-mate of van Nistelrooy’s. The current City boss said he’s been ringing around to get the lowdown on Coulibaly.

Asked if he’d spoken to Maresca, van Nistelrooy said: “Yes, I called a couple of people to speak about him. We took a lot of time to get him, to talk to him and people around him and we’re happy that it came through today.”

A centre-back and a winger are the next most likely targets for City this month. Their business could even extend to a new striker and a new left-back, but they have just over a fortnight remaining to wrap up transfers.

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