Leicester sign ex-Preston keeper Cornell

Dai Cornell featured 23 times for Preston in his four years with the club [Getty Images] Leicester City have signed former Ipswich Town and Preston North End goalkeeper Dai Cornell on a one-year deal. The 35-year-old Welshman was a free agent. He was offered a new contract to remain with Championship club Preston but left in the summer. Cornell has dropped into League One with the Foxes to boost their goalkeeper options after Jakub Stolarczyk suffered a season-ending knee injury in early September. Leicester boss Russell Martin said Cornell's value to Leicester, a side looking to make an immediate return to the Championship, will go beyond just what he can do with the gloves on. "He understands the role he is going to fulfil here, but he also backs himself to show what a good goalkeeper he is," Martin told BBC Radio Leicester. "But first and foremost, he is a brilliant character and really adds to the character, voice and experience in this squad." Cornell said he is keen to "help in any way" he can at the Foxes. Leicester are the 11th club Cornell has been on the books with in a career that started with Swansea City, and which has included stints with Scottish side St Mirren, as well as Portsmouth, Oldham, Northampton and Peterborough. Former Southampton goalkeeper, and once-capped England international, Alex McCarthy has been the most used of the Foxes' goalkeepers so far this season. Argentine Franco Ravizzoli, a summer arrival from Blackpool, has been on the bench for Leicester since Stolarczyk was ruled out. Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page