Leicester City In 100 Players: Robert Huth
Huth was an imposing and combative central defender who was good in the air, and a good reader of the game. He played a pivotal role for the Foxes in the ‘Great Escape’ in 2015, winning the Premier League title in 2016 and reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2017.
When he arrived at City in February 2015, he was an experienced centre-back who had played for Germany 19 times.
After a youth career at FC Union Berlin, he signed as an apprentice professional for Claudio Ranieri’s Chelsea in August 2001. He made his debut as a 17-year-old in May 2002, played in 20 games the following season and was a member of the Blues squads which became Premier League champions in 2005 and 2006.
However, although he went to the FIFA World Cup Finals in 2006 with Germany, he was unhappy about not being a regular in the Chelsea side, and joined Premier League Middlesborough in August 2006. His three seasons at Riverside Stadium were hampered by injuries and, following Boro’s relegation, he moved to Stoke City in August 2009.
He was a regular in the Potters’ side for the next four seasons, played in the 2011 FA Cup Final and won three Player of the Year awards, but then in November 2013, he damaged his knee and missed the rest of that season. He went on loan to Leicester City in February 2015 when the Foxes, in their first season back in the Premier League, were bottom of the table.
After signing, Robert was an ever-present until the end of the season, when the Foxes won seven and drew one of their last nine games to finish 14th in the Premier League.
He completed a permanent transfer to Leicester in June 2015 and missed only three games the following season when City became Premier League champions. He supplemented his commanding defensive performances by scoring vital goals in wins at title rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
The following season (2016/17), he played a prominent part in the Club’s UEFA Champions League journey when Leicester became the only English team to reach the quarter-finals.
Unfortunately, Robert missed the whole of the following season through injury. He left the Club in June 2018 after playing 93 games, all of them in the starting line-up. He retired in January 2019 but returned to Leicester in October 2022 as the Club’s Loan Manager.