There are only three outfield players standing from Leicester City’s extraordinary Premier League title success back in 2016.
The obvious name that jumps out immediately is Jamie Vardy, still one of the first on the team sheet six years later. Another is Marc Albrighton, whose role in the squad now may be more limited now, but no less important. Most impartial observers would be surprised to learn that Daniel Amartey picked up a winner’s medal during the Foxes’ coronation after the club’s final home outing of that season against Everton.
The Ghanaian international made his debut at home to Norwich City in February 2016, the match famous for triggering a mini earthquake when Leonardo Ulloa netted a late winner, this being the first of five appearances in Amartey’s first half-season since making the switch from FC Copenhagen.
A versatile player, Amartey began his Leicester career playing as a right-back with his preferred position of central midfield locked out by the irrepressible duo of Danny Drinkwater and N’Golo Kante. The 78 minutes the Ghanaian racked up on his maiden Premier League bow, filling in for the suspended Danny Simpson, proved to be the most he would get in any fixture that campaign as Claudio Ranieri struggled to incorporate him, shying away from changing his winning formula.
Just 24 more minutes from the bench across four fixtures would be to come. Playing time that included a late stint in defensive midfield as the 10-man champions-elect battled to a late point at home to West Ham United in April.
This was the start of Amartey’s struggles to find a natural position at the King Power. His versatility is a great trait to possess, but it often works against players who find themselves as an able deputy for many roles without cementing a firm hold over one specific position. While the 2016/17 season got off to a worrying start for the East Midlands outfit, with teams figuring out why Ranieri’s men were so successful and being more ably equipped to stifle them, things were looking up for Amartey, who made a run of 15 starts out of 18 Premier League matches in the middle of the park.
Then came the African Cup of Nations in January 2017, where Ghana reached the semi-final deploying Amartey as a defender, with the Leicester man being named in the team of the tournament. When he returned to face Swansea City, everything had changed.
On a miserable Sunday afternoon, Amartey found himself no longer a starter, and coming on to shut up shop at right-back as the Foxes limped to a 2-0 defeat in South Wales in what proved to be Ranieri’s final Premier League fixture in charge. Craig Shakespeare took the reins, and the Black Stars man would only be awarded two more starts in the campaign’s final 13 games, with an aggregate score of 3-10 in defeats to Everton and Tottenham Hotspur.
If the end of 16/17 was bad for Amartey, the next three seasons were utterly disastrous. Just 35 minutes of action were afforded to him in the first half of the following campaign, a five-minute spell in which he picked up two cautions against Manchester United and therefore a suspension for the following fixture against Watford.
With Claude Puel now at the helm, a brief spell of five starts in the team, this time at right-back, showed signs that Amartey might have a future at the club, with the side keeping three consecutive clean sheets including in a 0-0 stalemate with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. A poor team performance in defeat to Everton meant Puel felt a change was needed, with the defender being omitted from the squad entirely for the next three fixtures. That was before a hamstring injury put paid to his season altogether.
When the next season got underway, it was clear that Amartey’s future did not lie in midfield, with the Ghanaian starting 6 of the club’s first ten fixtures, all in the back line. These would be his last Premier League appearances for 23 months, after suffering a broken ankle against West Ham in October 2018.
Amartey would have to wait until the first full pandemic season to come back into the Premier League fold, slotting seamlessly into a back three as the King Power club dismantled would-be champions Manchester City on their own turf with a 5-2 mauling in which the defender completed 90 minutes. Again, injuries proved his worst enemy, limiting Amartey to just five more full appearances as his side finished fifth for the second consecutive season. A hamstring problem came just at the wrong time, leading to a nine-game spell on the treatment table, after which the No.18 had fallen out of favour.
Fast-forward to the campaign just gone, and the perception of Daniel Amartey among the Foxes fanbase is broadly positive. A season in which he played 23 times from the start, a lot of which as Leicester’s best available defender, has endeared the Ghanaian to the club’s supporters, developing him into something of a cult hero.
The lack of consistent playing time in previous years had meant the overview of Amartey was unclear, with his ability always being questioned. Now, observers can see the leadership qualities he displays in marshalling his fellow defenders, and how clever he can be in anticipating danger or shifting the ball subtly to find an extra few yards to pass the ball into a midfield teammate.
The summer rebuild might eventually arrive, and there have been whispers that an Amartey departure may be a part of that. Whatever happens, a rapport has been built with a section of the Leicester support who will always appreciate his efforts and the way he bounced back from a nasty injury to put on the blue shirt once more.