Leicester City are headed towards a summer of spending and selling as Brendan Rodgers must refresh the squad. Here is where he should start the refresh.
In football clubs, there are some players who simply do not make the cut. There are myriad reasons, from managerial bias to personal decadence and a lack of passion or development. For others though, an injury costs them their club career.
On that topic, the King Power side has been sitting within a limbo period – more like a purgatory – whereby the passion of players is sapped. The startling performances of yore remain stuck in our not-so-distant past.
Therefore, we are in a moment of reflection. The Foxes are reflecting upon performances, most particularly on which players improve the team and which are detractors from team-play. Hence, Foxes of Leicester will detail the players that have simply got to go, for any reasons. Further to this, I shall denote realistic replacements Rodgers’ team could make a move on in the summer.
Leicester City’s defence
Shambolic, disorderly, low on ammunition… There are plenty more negatives that can be impressed upon our broken defence. (Please click below to continue)
Leicester have fallen from defensive juggernauts with Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu, and Wesley Fofana offering options, to one of the worst (14th worst on goals conceded). Summer cleaning is on its way, so time to refresh that backline. There are obvious players who the Foxes will never consider selling, such as Timothy Castagne and Luke Thomas, but there are others who do not enthral.
Ryan Bertrand was a mistake. After receiving a warm welcome, several poor performances plus a long-term injury mean he is just not going to get a starting spot in the side. The fullback must go.
Luckily, no replacement is needed for the English left-back. The defender was only backup either way, and Rodgers’ side already have Vontae Daley-Campbell and Shane Flynn ready to join the senior squad.
Unfortunately, the time for our stalwart Evans to leave has also arrived. The Northern Irishman has become injury prone. The King Power club must bring in someone who can compete for spaces regularly.
As anyone who has ever read my Twitter feed will know, Maxence Lacroix is one of those I constantly obsess about. The Wolfsburg defender has all the attributes to reach for stardom in the sport, with pace, energy, and passion the hallmarks of his ever-reliable game. (The link to continue is below)
At about £22.50m by Transfermarkt‘s estimations, a £25m bid for the player is not an unrealistic amount to spend on a starting fullback for a side looking to improve their starting XI. This does require not looking for another Jannik Vestergaard.
Regarding Vestergaard, no, I would not sell him. Once integrated, the Dane will understand the system and be a useful sub. Meanwhile, the hardworking Daniel Amartey is another question. He works hard and deserves his spot at the moment, but really should not be coming close to starting.
The Ghanaian defender is simply not fast enough to be either a modern centre-back or fullback. This is not to say the DM turned FB turned CB is not without qualities. The player suffered a tragic injury which rendered him a different kind of player: useful but not impactful enough.
The time for him to go has unfortunately come. Sell Amartey and buy Dan-Axel Zagadou from Borussia Dortmund. The defender has not been getting into the starting XI much this season, yet his quality as a strong CB should not be understated. At about £12.6m – so more like £15m – he would strengthen our squad depth.
A future-fit midfield
Despite knowing that our Belgian ‘Starman’ Youri Tielemans might be leaving, there are other midfielders who must be moved on to make room for new additions to the cast. Firstly, Papy Mendy. By no fault of his own, the DM has lived in the shadow of the Nigerian star Wilfred Ndidi and found himself no place in Brendan Rodgers plans. The Senegal midfielder must be sold for the sake of his career.
To fill that gap, Leicester City should not buy anyone extra, but instead promote a more attack minded U23 player to that sub position. My suggestions would be either Wanya Marcal-Madivadua or loanee Callum Wright.
However, with Tielemans likely leaving, Boubakary Soumare does not play the same role, and someone has to come in to rotate with the sensational Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Crystal Palace have our answer, Michel Olise. The midfielder is progressive-minded and has all the technique needed to compete with ‘KDH’. Any move would like cost somewhere close to £20m.
The Foxes need someone to rotate with James Maddison, and as Dennis Praet is out of the picture, Ayoze Perez has not been given the thumbs up from the gaffer. It is time for our Spaniard to go somewhere he will get consistent game time.
Therefore, my suggestion for a future-fit attacking-midfielder is one of two lucky candidates. First, we have Charles De Ketelaere – another Belgian Starman – and second is another Crystal Palace player – Eberechi Eze. Both would cost over £20m. It is kind of fortuitous that a Tielemans exit would fund the two midfield additions we need to make.
The King Power side would do good to milk any sale of the Starman and improve our rotational ability and starting XI.
Finally a right-winger?
Ademola Lookman is not a right-winger. The player performs best on the left-wing, so is fit to be our rotation with Harvey Barnes and we must be thinking of keeping the loan winger onboard ‘Fox-express’ – this train needs someone like him.
However, Rodgers club needs to get a right-winger to start ahead of Marc Albrighton. For this, spending £30m is necessary. I would offload the goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and possibly consider selling Kelechi Iheanacho if he is not within the starting plans for next season to make room and money.
Either Samuel Chukwueze of Villareal or Alexis Saelemaekers of AC Milan would make the cut for a prolific and long-term right-winger. To be honest, these ones are a little unrealistic, if only due to our incessant lacklustre attempts to sign wingers on loan. More likely would be VFB Stuttgart’s Tanguy Coulibaly – cheap yet very cheerful in my opinion.
Otherwise, the attacking situation is fine as it is, and with Tawanda Maswanhise quickly rising through the ranks, plus the reliability of Albrighton, I do not believe anything more than an integral right-winger is required.