him first-team football. He was linked with a £500,000 move to Charlton Athletic, Southampton were also believed to be monitoring him, while Leicester City were seeking a double signing with teammate DJ Campbell. Leicester City On 9 July, Leicester City made an offer for Clemence, which Birmingham rejected, demanding an increased bid for the player. On 13 July, Clemence signed a three-year contract with Leicester in a deal which "could rise to £1m". DJ Campbell joined him at the club seven days later. Clemence was named the new team captain on 28 July, and was picked by the BBC as Leicester's key player for the 2007–08 season. Clemence later admitted that "when [manager] Martin Allen was here, we didn't have a settled team and we were not sure if our jobs were safe." He made his debut in a 1–0 defeat to Blackpool at the Walkers Stadium on 11 August 2007. Clemence scored his first goal with the stoppage-time winner for Leicester in a 3–2 League Cup win over Nottingham Forest on 18 September, and his second in a 1–1 draw with Charlton Athletic on 29 December. He suffered a calf strain in January 2008, followed by a thigh injury in early March, though he was sidelined for only a short while. On 29 March, Clemence tore a calf muscle in a 1–0 win over Scunthorpe United which kept him out for what remained of the season, as Leicester were relegated from the Championship. It proved to be the final competitive match of his career. Clemence underwent an operation in April and was expected to recover in time for pre-season training. However, he suffered complications following surgery on his Achilles tendon. As a result, Clemence played no part in the 2008–09 season, while vice-captain Matthew Oakley took over the armband and helped the club regain promotion from League One. He had a second operation in October 2008, in which "the surgeon had to take the Achilles off the heel-bone, clear out the rubbish and then sew it back on. He also had to shave some of the bone off the heel." As of July 2009, Clemence was yet to recover from his heel injury, an ordeal he considered "tough to deal with mentally because this is the longest time I've had out of the game." He marked his return to action in a 3–1 win over Derby County reserves on