How Leicester could line-up next season with ideal transfers

Preparations are well underway for the 2020/21 campaign for Leicester City, despite the lack of signings.

It will the Leicester City’s seventh season in the Premier League since their promotion in 2014 and it has potential to cement the club’s position as one of the best teams in the country.

After missing out on Champions League football on the final day to the hands of Manchester United, Brendan Rodgers men will compete in Europe’s second-tier competition next season, the Europa League.

Today marks two weeks since the conclusion of the Premier League longest-ever season and the Foxes are yet to move in the transfer market.

This article will predict how the side will line-up on the 12 September when the 2020/21 season gets underway. My predicted line-up will follow the 4-1-4-1 formation often implemented by Rodgers last season.

Goalkeeper- Kasper Schmeichel

Despite us reporting earlier today that Kasper Schmeichel is expected to leave the club if the right offer is made, I don’t believe either Chelsea or Manchester United will pay the ‘right price’, whatever that may be.

The Dane has been at Leicester since 2011, making over 300 appearances for the Foxes and was one of the very few standout performers following the restart of football. Despite his double error at Bournemouth, he remained strong between the sticks to deny others in the run-in, including a penalty save against Brighton.

Schmeichel has only missed five league games in the previous three seasons, demonstrating his importance to the squad and probably the first name on the team-sheet next season. If he stays.

In an unideal world, if Schmeichel is prized away from City, who would be a good replacement?

Andre Onana from Ajax. Despite being linked with Chelsea, Frank Lampard’s side are being linked with most players at the moment. Onana broke into the Ajax first-team in 2016 and has been vital to their success in Holland.

Another name to keep in mind is Aaron Ramsdale. With Europa League’s registration rule being that at least eight members of the squad must be ‘locally trained players’, Ramsdale will tick this box.

Following his impressing performances for Bournemouth, despite their relegation, Ramsdale has been linked with Sheffield United.

Defence – Ricardo Pereira, Caglar Soyuncu, Jonny Evans, Nicolas Tagliafico

Let’s start with the obvious. Ricardo Pereira is vital to this backline and, in fact, the team. His five-goal contribution in 28 appearances doesn’t shout ‘amazing’, but the Portuguese’s contribution and the impact that was missing was clear to see when he suffered a serious knee injury against Aston Villa and missed the remaining nine games.

James Justin did fine and will certainly be involved with the club participating in four competitions, but Pereira was one of the instrumental players last season and is a fan favourite amongst the King Power following.

Despite interest from Barcelona, Caglar Soyuncu should be at Leicester City next season due to the lack of funds at the Spanish giants. The Turkish defender missed only four games last season and became another fan favourite with his spirited performances.

Soyuncu’s performance improved as the season went on. His mistake at Old Trafford in September was quickly resolved and his ball-playing capability is one of the best in the league.

Unlike Soyuncu, who broke onto the scene last season, Jonny Evans showed his experience last season with his presence alongside his inexperienced partner. The Northern Irish-international turns 33 in January and this could be his final season playing week-in-week-out.

Evans’ experience of the game he has gathered from his time at Manchester United, West Brom and the Northern Ireland national team will help the other defenders, including Filip Benkovic.

With Benkovic returning from his loan spell at Bristol City, the competition will be tough in the heart of the defence. Another signing could help with squad depth and I would like to see James Tarkowski arrive.

Like stated above, the home-grown ruling that the Europa League provides will have to be in the thoughts of the recruitment team and Tarkowski will do no harm to that. The England defender was named in WhoScored.com’s European team of the year after appearing in every minute of Burnley’s Premier League campaign and impressed for the second year running.

The left-back topic has been brewing since after the January transfer window. It looks like Ben Chilwell will leave Leicester for Chelsea this summer, meaning the Foxes must recruit a replacement for the Englishman.

I previously wrote about my expression to bring Nicolas Tagliafico from Ajax in to replace Chilwell. His experience of playing the type of football Rodgers has brought to the club will suit the Argentinian, plus he has experience in European competitions.

Elsewhere, Jamal Lewis from Norwich could look a likely arrival and after being linked with Kostas Tskimikas, the Greek looks certain to move to Anfield and be Andrew Robertson’s back-up.

Midfield – Wilfred Ndidi, Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison and Said Benrahma

The five games Wilfred Ndidi missed due to his knee injury at the start of the year, Leicester failed to win any games and won the one game he returned before missing the draws to Wolves and Chelsea.

Ndidi completed 85% of his 1,669 passes last season and made the most interceptions in the league with 80. Like Pereira, his role in how the team play, both defensively and attacking, is massive. 

Ahead of Ndidi, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison were in fine form before Christmas before failing to continue that as the season continued. It’s not a coincidence that once the playmaker’s performances had fallen off, so had Leicester’s.

With 18 goals provided by them both and both at the age of 23-years-old, finding similar form to the one they had provided around the time of the 9-0 victory over Southampton will certainly see the Foxes up there again next season.

Harvey Barnes will definitely be in Rodgers team next season, in my opinion. After calling for his wingers to produce more after the 2-1 win against Burnley, Barnes improved and went on to score in three straight games during January.

It won’t be long until Barnes is in Gareth Southgate’s England squad.

The Countersthorpe-born winger has often been played on the left, but his ability to use both feet will hand the Foxes a great outlet from the right.

On the right, I would love to see us land Said Benrahma. The Algerian is likely to move to the Premier League this summer after missing out on promotion with Brentford and Leicester have been watching the Algerian for a while now.

Benrahma scored 17 times from left-wing last season and created nine for his team-mates. They are sort of the statistics that City have been missing since Riyad Mahrez departed in 2018.

If Jon Rudkin and Lee Congerten can construct a bid that reaches the £25m price tag the Bees have slapped on their man, the East Midlanders winger problem will be truly sealed.

Striker – Jamie Vardy

Alongside Schmeichel, Jamie Vardy is one of the first names on the team sheet come matchday. The Foxes striker won the Golden Boot for the first time last season with 23 goals, showing that he is nowhere near finished.

After making a name for himself in the 2015/16 title-winning season, many labelled Vardy as a ‘one-season wonder’. Strange, right?

Since then, Vardy has scored in the Champions League, at Wembley, won the Golden Boot, scored 74 league goals and reached the 100 Premier League goal club.

The former-Fleetwood Town man has changed his style of play. After admitting that he didn’t suit Claude Puel’s style of play, Vardy has improved his game and now the football played at the club compliments him.

Since Rodger swapped Celtic for Leicester City in February 2019, Vardy has scored 32 Premier League goals for the club and his goal assists have also improved, totalling five.

Alongside Vardy has been Kelechi Iheanacho. Since his arrival in 2017, Iheanacho has scored 21 league goals in 117 appearances.

However, Iheanacho has failed to compete with Vardy much, starting only 40 games and being subbed on 77 times. There have been rumours that the Nigerian striker will depart the club this summer in seek of first-team football, with Rodgers wanting to bring Odsonne Eduoard to England.

There has also been rumour of Luka Jovic leaving Real Madrid for Leicester this summer after one season. The Serbian’s time in the Bernabeu hasn’t gone to plan, after storming onto the scene for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2018/19 season.

If either Jovic or Eduoard are brought into the club, Iheanacho will have to leave to free-up funds. However, the rumours have fallen to death ears regarding Jovic and Eduoard has kicked-off his season with Celtic already.