Three dream candidates to replace Claude Puel at Leicester City

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WOLVERHAMPTON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 19: Claude Puel, Manager of Leicester City looks on prior to the Premier League match between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Leicester City at Molineux on January 19, 2019 in Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /

With Claude Puel’s hopes of building an empire at Leicester City dying a slow death, we take a look at who the next man to take the reins at the King Power Stadium could be.

Leonardo Jardim

Touted by all and sundry as the next manager unfortunate enough to take over the reins at Manchester United, Leonardo Jardim is undoubtedly the Leicester City fans’ first choice to replace Claude Puel. Truth be told, if the board is serious about establishing Leicester as a “top six” club, then Jardim should be their first choice as well.

Forget about the 159 goals that his Ligue 1 winning AS Monaco side scored in 2016/17, forget about the £700 million worth of top talent that he sold during his tenure, too. It is his tactical astuteness and the flexibility that Leicester must be willing to completely invest in. Some people often blight his reputation by merely defining him as advocate of total football, but that is only partly true and an insult to his versatility.

If needs be, then he can just as pragmatic as his Portuguese counterpart Jose Mourinho, an example of which would be Monaco’s 2014/15 campaign. They may have been voted the most boring team in the country – in a poll ran by France Football – that season, but they were bloody good at sucking the life out of their opponents.

The Le Rouges et Blancs conceded a mere 26 league goals all season and scored nearly double that tally – which isn’t too much. They also boasted the best defensive record of any European side in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, conceding just once in six games.

A year later, Jardim’s dream team was receiving billets-doux from football’s faithful for their expansive football, as the 44-year old finally assembled a squad capable of doing it both the dirty and delighting way. Isn’t it what the Leicester fans want to be done with their team?