Clearly Leicester City’s ownership is happy to forgo millions of pounds in profit in order to ensure that undoubted quality remains in the team.
Nobody could ever have known just how impactful the Srivaddhanaprabha family would be to Leicester City Football Club. It is akin to discovering any perfect combination. When the Foxes needed a perfect owner, the late Khun Vichai heeded the call.
Well, clearly somebody had an inkling after seeing the east Midlands side return to the big time of Premier League action, as 5000-1 bets were made and won on the biggest prize in the English game.
However, whilst collecting almost all domestic silverware on offer, barring the League Cup under Thai ownership, players have come and gone, state-of-the-art facilities are now enjoyed by the squad as the they find themselves in an enviable position. Only West Ham seem to be undertaking a similarly excellent project, at least on the field.
Leicester City owners forgo millions to ensure quality roster
Many chairmen and owners of Premier League outfits treat their clubs like a business, which is their right to do, with mixed and usually unfavourable results. Though fans want love and deference to their feelings and vision as much as they want profit to bolster their teams – LCFC’s ownership supplies both.
Owners can obviously extract funds, yet Leicester seem to be run more as a community foundation or family organisation. Of course, the Srivaddhanaprabha family or The King Power International Group have the right to benefit and probably do, which us Foxes wouldn’t condemn. All the while a perfect balance and harmony seems to be struck.
For an example of the astuteness and prudence of Khun Top Srivaddhanaprabha – the late Vichai’s son and main heir – I point to the fact that this summer was the first time in the previous five years that a standout star player was not sold for a hefty price-tag.
In the last few off-seasons, Leicester fans were disappointed to see N’golo Kante, Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and subsequently Ben Chilwell depart. Yes, Drinkwater moving for approximately £30m was a fine piece of business and an affordable disaster for Chelsea.
And the Pensioners also made an error in signing the mediocre, apprehensive Chilwell during a costly global pandemic when they already had two better left-backs. Kante leaving was a mistake: he had an ill-advised release clause but possibly insisted on that stipulation when signing in 2015. So even in that instance, the Foxes did exceptionally well to actually secure the gifted Frenchmen to begin with.
In the recently past transfer window, Rachid Ghezzal – a very uninspiring winger not ready or talented enough for EPL football – joined Turks Besiktas for a relatively nominal fee of £2.7m. Dennis Praet has temporarily gone to Italians Torino for a smart loan price of £900,000.
The remaining outgoings – Christian Fuchs, Matty James, Sam Hughes and Wes Morgan – were either released, sold for free or retired. Meanwhile no outstanding athletes or leaders among the ranks were relinquished. Therefore a trend was bucked this season, or for this season.
Furthermore, Foxes of Leicester feel the LCFC hierarchy deserve much praise for resisting mega offers and being unwilling to sell off their prized assets. We all know Liverpool wanted Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans; whilst Arsenal, despite no bids emerging, were very keen on James Maddison, a player who suits their style.
If Leicester’s owners had instructed the recruitment department to orchestrate an agreement to sell either aforementioned talents, they would have attempted to do so. If no offers transpired, they would have offered the men to their apparent suitors.
Evidently Khun Top restrained himself from doing so – and it definitely feels as though he did that for the right reasons, such as evolution and positive building. This ship is being steered better than steadily: it is more of a groundbreaking EPL uprising.