There aren’t many Leicester City stars left in the queue for Get Carter’s appraisals, apart from some fringe players and three others who only want to hear one thing when they play: a loud scream of yes after scoring a goal.
Jamie Vardy of Leicester City
Appearances: 31 / Premier League 25 / Europe 5 / EFL cup 1/
Goals: 17 / Premier League 15 / EFL cup 2/
Moment to savour: An opening day strike and wolf howl in front of the Wolves fans
Moment to forget: Missing 11 games with injury
What’s left to say about Jamie Vardy? He continued to rack up the goals for the foxes in his tenth season. It’s been such a rollercoaster since he arrived in the Championship that it feels like he’s always been a Leicester player. This season he started in his usual inimitable way, racking up seven goals in his first eight Premier League games before a dip in his goalscoring form inevitably set in.
‘Vards’ picked back up at the end of the season to give his statistics a more impressive 17 goals in 31 games, no mean feat for any Premier League striker. The underrated part of his season was that not one of his 17 goals was a penalty, a type of goal that has helped Vardy over the years.
His talents are never in doubt but these days his pressing game shows a far more methodical approach, where he only presses hard when he feels he can be a danger. This is a clever way to manage his body and bursts of energy to ensure he can last over the season.
Typically, the former England forward still ended up missing a good chunk of the season due to injury. In the last three seasons injury is something he has had to contend with more and more, luckily it hasn’t affected his goalscoring numbers too massively. But without stating the obvious, other players desperately need to step up and ease the burden. This enigma will soon be coming to an end.
Rating 8/10 Chances of leaving 0%
Patson Daka
Appearances: 37 / Premier League 23/ Europe 10/ FA Cup 1/ EFL Cup 3/
Goals: 11/ Premier League 5 / Europe 6/
Moment to savour: A second half 4-goal masterclass in Moscow
Moment to forget: A disallowed goal against Napoli that ruined his first taste of Leicester glory
Patson Daka arrived from the Red Bull Salzburg production line of amazing players with the hopes of following in the famous footsteps of Erling Haaland and Sadio Mane. City fans have more simpler hopes in their sights with the hope that he will simply replace Vardy in the long term.
As first season’s go, it wasn’t too bad. His desire and work rate is in abundance and will stand him in good stead as foxes fans warm to him more and more. He loves closing down defenders and winning back the ball to the eruption of the home support.
Clearly Daka has much to learn though and frequently finds himself in strange positions when trying to lead the line in Vardy’s absence. He can sometimes look a little clumsy as he adjusts to the quick pace of English football, but that is to be expected and was the same for a certain No.9 held in high esteem by Leicester supporters.
The Zambia hitman’s poaching instincts have been sampled through the season intermittently. But the one game that really made people sit up and take notice was a second-half display in Moscow of finishing excellence. He took his four goals with delight in front of an enthusiastic Zambian following in the stands.
Each finish was sharper than the last, with Daka’s confidence swelling to crazy levels. This is a player that thrives on that energy and will be looking for more of that as he will no doubt continue to play a more prominent role in seasons to come.
Rating 7/10. Chance of leaving 0%
Kelechi Iheanacho
Appearances: 41 / Premier League 26/ Europe 11/ EFL Cup 3/ FA Cup 1
Goals: 7 / Premier League 4 / Europe 1 / EFL Cup 1/ FA Cup 1
Moment to savour: A superb diving header at Old Trafford
Moment to forget: Missing chances to seal an Old Trafford win
Following the end of last season, it seemed that top scorer Iheanacho had a fair shot at being the number one striker at the King Power Stadium. Alas, it never quite happened for the Nigerian and not entirely through elements in his control.
Kelechi can display some unbelievably skilful moments that leave opponents bewildered. His game has certainly come on from simply being a goalscorer. He is a team player that brings others into play and one that likes to create for others. This is reflected in an impressive nine assists this season.
The main issue we have with this talented player is that he isn’t a traditional No.9 and we rarely play with a traditional No.10 where he is arguably best suited. Subsequently, he gets used as a substitute to turn games around or is sacrificed when he starts. But Iheanacho has displayed elements of his previous frustrating self when he is missing chances that he should really be doing better with.
This happened in consecutive games against Manchester United, PSV and Crystal Palace. Each time Daka showed excellent control, poise and skill before lifting tame shots wide of the goal. If any of those chances had gone in, we’d all be drinking in the majesty of some excellent finishes, but he didn’t and strikers are normally only judged by what they do in front of goal.
Rating 6.5/10. Chance of leaving: 30%