It has been quite a peculiar start to the transfer window for Leicester City, as it seems as though the club is without much viable funds to make any dent into the transfer market. Therefore, I have delved into where I think the club could free up some funds, while looking at where perhaps the East Midlands side should not move on from some players which fans may want to see the back of.
Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel, Keep:
Categorically keep! There is much chatter and rumour about a potential move away for the 35-year-old Leicester City captain, with many fans believing its time to move on from the Dane. They highlight the command of his area and his sub-par distribution as the two main components for this opinion.
While both may objectively be the case, recency bias is rife throughout sports and people are very quick to judge based off what they have just seen, but I would quickly remind you how vital this man was to both our major domestic honours – the Premier League and F.A Cup – as his shot stopping ability is still up there with the best in Europe.
Although Schmeichel’s lack of a command in his area may have contributed to LCFC’s frankly shocking corner defensive record last season, it very clear that the lack of physical and assertive presence when defending set pieces was another major factor. In addition, a player and leader who has served the club so marvellously, in my eyes, has earned the right to keep his place and role in the club.
Ryan Bertrand, Keep:
This decision may seem quite strange, but it is merely as a short-term solution to squad depth in regards to what I feel should be done with our other full backs this year. Although I do feel that Bertrand is quite a significant drop off in quality to the other fullbacks, it is merely from a necessity to have depth in the left back position, as I do not feel that his contract will be renewed past his current contract anyway.
Luke Thomas, Loan out:
I feel that despite Thomas’ perhaps underestimated potential and occasionally mature performances, he is still quite a way off the physicality required for week-in-week-out Premier League football. Therefore, I think that a loan to either a lesser EPL side or Championship club is ideal for the 20-year-old to develop the physical side of his game. Another reason would be to ensure game time for Thomas, with Leicester having a reduced number of opportunities due to no European football next year.
Daniel Amartey, Keep:
This decision is purely because Amartey is the most versatile from the reserve centre halves. Do I think the Ghanaian is good enough to play consistently in a four-back system? I do not. However, he has more versatility to his game than others in his position, so for this reason only I think he should be kept.
Caglar Soyuncu, Sell:
Now coming in with the first sell of this piece and this does seem very likely to happen in this window for the Turkish international. Soyuncu had a very troubling season last year, his inability to defend one-on-one, coupled with his rash and aggressive nature left City exposed constantly when he played. He also does still have potential value as he has been monitored regularly by clubs over the last few years so this would be very useful in raising funds.
Jannik Vestergaard, Sell:
Unfortunately, a signing which looked like a very shrewd move by LCFC really has not worked out. The man-mountain Vestergaard simply does not suit the Brendan Rodgers system of high-line possession-based system, well not seemingly so anyway. Leicester should try and recoup some of the money spent on him and sell the Dane.
Hamza Choudhury, Sell:
Despite the academy graduate looking like a promising young holding midfielder when he first came into the senior squad, his lack of technical development has been very apparent and resulted in him struggling to acquire any regular minutes. This coupled with freeing up his wages and him still being a sellable asset due to his age, I think it would be the best for both parties if he were to be sold.
Ademola Lookman, sign:
Lookman displayed many times in the previous campaign the immense amount of ability and creativity he has, he would be an excellent squad player to have. Although I have expressed how I do not think he is the solution for Leicester’s “right-hand-sided problem” I do, however, think he gives excellent competition for Harvey Barnes on the left.
A permanent move may also be what kickstarts Lookman’s career as it highly likely that the Nigerian internationals seemingly lack of progression in his overall game may solely be due to his nomadic start to his career, never being under the same coach for an elongated period of time could be the cause of this. Another year under Rodgers and everything could fall into place for Lookman, something that of course LCFC will benefit from.
Kelechi Iheanacho, Sell:
This will most likely be the most controversial decision on here considering the emphatic finishing ability and quality that Iheanacho possess’ but hear me out. Although I do believe he has all of the above and even though City’s number “14” nearly single-handedly dragged the Foxes to a Champion’s League place in the 2020/21 season, despite all of this perhaps being true. I think that due the forwards inability to find that consistency that won him Player of the Month at the back end of said season as well as being his most prolific year scoring 12 EPL goals.
There could be an argument made that his sensational run was a result of the absence of fans, not on the ability. I say this because he has also shown flashes of that quality during his entire tenure with the club but not the consistency.
This accompanied with the fact that ‘Kelz’ does need a second-strike partner in order to flourish and Rodgers’ lack of willingness to plug Iheanacho into a two-man strike force it does seem that the most sensible solution would be to cash in on the 25-year-old. As I do believe he would still conjure a lucrative fee which would provide Rodgers with funds to buy players more suited to his preferred playing-style.