Leicester City make the trip to Arsenal this weekend, reeling from the disappointment of unnecessarily throwing away two points in their season opener at home to Brentford. The visit to North London will be a tricky one for the Foxes, who tired in the second half last weekend, and will be up against a seemingly rejuvenated Mikel Arteta side.
Brendan Rodgers isn’t short of squad depth this term, but that doesn’t necessarily guarantee quality in all of the right areas. What the Brentford collapse highlighted is that there are some key areas the recruitment team should be targeting to bring in reinforcements, and here at Foxes of Leicester, we compiled three of those positions.
A new Centre back for Leicester City?
A back three was the system deployed last weekend, but the Foxes still shipped two goals that were abundantly avoidable. The in-demand Wesley Fofana started alongside new captain Jonny Evans as expected, but Daniel Amartey was also thrown into the mix to cope with the threat of Ivan Toney.
This had the adverse affect for Rodgers’ men, as the Ghanaian was easily manoeuvred out of the way for Toney to half the deficit, before his decision to back off from Josh Da Silva and show him onto his left foot allowed the most predictable outcome of the wide man curling an equaliser into the far corner.
Jannik Vestergaard appears to be far from the manager’s plans, meaning the only able deputy from the bench when playing in this system is Caglar Soyuncu, whose form and quality is hideously unpredictable. The Foxes must draw up a short list of central defenders, if only to provide cover, but potentially to take Amartey’s place in the 3-back system.
Right wing
The main reason Brendan Rodgers elected to play with a third centre-half was due to the injury to Harvey Barnes, with the Northern Irishman choosing to utilise the width through his wing-backs rather than Ayoze Perez or Marc Albrighton. Other than shifting James Maddison out wide, these two players remain the only available options on the flanks, with the lack of pace becoming the obvious issue.
When fit and available, after the departure of Ademola Lookman, Barnes will be expected to occupy that wide left role every time his boss plays with a 4-back system. There lies an opportunity for a new acquisition to come in to the King Power and make the right-hand flank his own.
The finances and/or squad side may make it difficult for the hierarchy at Leicester to sanction a permanent transfer, but if this is the case, loaning a player with similar attributes to Lookman would not be the worst idea. With rumours that the club are looking to offload Perez, stocking up in this position should be deemed a priority.
Goalkeeper
It looks as though LCFC’s first summer signing will be Alex Smithies, a stopper who has just left Championship outfit Cardiff City. Everything that has been reported around this deal points to this being the appointment of a third choice goalkeeper, behind Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen.
When stories first emerged about Kasper Schemichel potentially moving to OGC Nice, the word was that the Dane would not be sold until the Foxes identified and purchased a replacement. Now, the goalposts have shifted, and with Danny Ward, Leicester have a new No. 1.
This however symbolises the stagnation that many fans have feared would come in this transfer window, as it appears the club is content with going backwards. Ward was purchased for £12.6million from Liverpool, and is a Wales international, but very few Foxes followers are willing to accept the club selling a stalwart and replacing him with a downgrade.
It’s clear that any new goalkeeper that arrives at Seagrave won’t be in contention for a starting spot, and might only serve as a mechanism to send Jakub Stolarczyk out on loan. However, if the club has any desires to truly progress, it must bring in a player between the sticks comparable in quality to Kasper Schmeichel.