Leicester City must conduct surgery on the team this window. Cutting out the decaying and less desirable players: here is who must be sold this summer.
The King Power club are supposed to be within the thralls of a squad refresh. Deadwood is meant to be amputated, energy and passion to be injected. We should have seen action by now.
However, the Foxes are yet to undertake any business in the transfer market. All which has occurred has been the releasing of six players of little to no immediate consequence to the club. The reason for this lethargy best be good.
There exist two possibilities. Either the funds are not there, and the side must sell to raise funds. Alternatively, with the number of players in the senior side, there will need to be sales before we have space for purchases
Leicester City must sell forgotten players
In aid of alleviating either concern, the best cure is one which involves trying to offload several players who seem to have been forgotten about by gaffer Brendan Rodgers. Whether or not Rodgers trusts these players is not in question.
A midfield duo are in contention for removal: Nempalys (Papy) Mendy and Hamza Choudhury. With the advent of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, the current non-sale of Youri Tielemans, and existing talent Wilfred Ndidi, there is little to no room for at least one of the two forgotten players.
The English midfielder is unfortunate to not receive more opportunities from the Northern Irishman. However, to be fair on Rodgers, he has not entirely registered an impact when suited to the system, and in the aftermath of a different system, Choudhury had no chance.
With only 12 appearances across all competitions for the English ‘DM’ and 15 for Mendy, they have only truly featured when others could not. In the absence of Ndidi, either were given scarce chances to impress. One must certainly be sold, if not both.
A fresher ‘dynamic’ fox
Refreshing the team requires cutting off those older appendages causing issues with injuries and long-term reliability. Especially as the club revisits the dynamic fox logo of yore on the back of their new kits.
Think of Ryan Bertrand, Marc Albrighton, Ayoze Perez, Daniel Amartey, and either of the remaining first team goalkeepers. The only major exclusions have been Jamie Vardy and Jonny Evans.
Despite their older age, whenever they play for Leicester, they continue to surpass a myriad of forwards significantly younger. Though more reliable players (in terms of injuries) would assist. Bertrand has been unimpressive in his first season as a Fox, where ‘Ayo’ has had few chances but still looked bright.
‘Big Dan’ has gained a cult following by supporters despite subpar performances on most occasions, and ‘Sharky’ is within the twilight years of his career. LCFCmust dissever themselves from these ageing talents. They lack resale value and are untrusted by the head coach for anything more than backup to the first team. Only Albrighton stands a chance of being first team next season.
Discarding Amartey allows Ben Nelson to join the senior side and will give Jannik Vestergaard one last season to impress or be removed himself. Allowing Ayo to leave for the sake of his career leaves room for a versatile attacker like Charles de Ketelaere. These are crucial in a refresh.
Finally, either Danny Ward or Kasper Schmeichel must make space for Daniel Iversen to get his opportunity to grow, while Leicester’s young Polish goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk will be awaiting his time on the wings likely on loan. I’d err on the side of retaining the Welsh international.
Whatever happens from now on, a major operation to prevent a direct copy-cat of Arsenal is critical. From dissection to face lifts, this club does not need plastic surgery, it needs transplants to remain relevant in that top seven conversation.