Marti Cifuentes appears to have strengthened his Leicester City backroom team by bringing in a goalkeeping coach, reuniting with Javier Ortiz.
Sandefjord, Ortiz’s side in Norway, confirmed that the 33-year-old will depart after seven years to link up once more with City manager Cifuentes at the King Power Stadium.
Ortiz originally joined Sandefjord alongside Cifuentes in 2018, and while the manager has moved through four clubs since then, the goalkeeping coach had remained in Norway until now.
This marks the second addition to Cifuentes’ staff, and the first since assistant manager Xavi Calm arrived with him in July.
Lead academy goalkeeping coach Glyn Thompson has been working with City’s senior keepers during the opening months of the season.
Now Ortiz will step in to train Jakub Stolarczyk, Fran Vieites and Asmir Begovic, with the veteran five years older than the incoming coach.
Ortiz said: “It’s exciting for me, a big step to take, a big challenge, but that’s why it’s fun, that’s how football is.
“At the same time, it’s sad to leave Sandefjord. It’s a bit of a 50/50 feeling, because you’re looking forward to a new challenge, that’s what you want as a coach. At the same time, I’ve been here for seven years, my life is here now.
“My wife is here, we were going to become parents here in December, so in that way it’s sad, because we’re happy here.”
Sandefjord earned promotion to Norway’s top division under Cifuentes and have remained in the league ever since.
Currently, they sit sixth out of 16 teams with eight fixtures left in the campaign. Should they hold that spot, it would be their highest-ever finish.
Alongside Calm and Ortiz, City also have first-team coach Andy King and set-piece coach Andrew Hughes among their staff.