Foxes of Leicester
Fansided

What led to Leicester City’s disastrous EPL relegation

By Joey LeMaster

Dejected Leicester City fans at full time of the Premier League match between Leicester City and West Ham United at The King Power Stadium on May 28, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images)
Dejected Leicester City fans at full time of the Premier League match between Leicester City and West Ham United at The King Power Stadium on May 28, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images) /
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Leicester City
Jamie Vardy speaks with Victor Kristiansen of Leicester City after Tom Cairney of Fulham (not pictured) scores the team’s third goal during the Premier League match between Fulham FC and Leicester City at Craven Cottage on May 08, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images) /

Leicester would sign three players that would be brought into the first team. The first player signed was fullback Victor Kristiansen from Danish side FC Copenhagen. Just 19 years old at the time, Kristiansen would have to make a major jump into the Premier League while being an unproven youngster. While having a fantastic start with the foxes, he would eventually see his playing time given to Luke Thomas. This is a pattern that will follow the rest of our January signees.

With the transfer window coming to an end, Leicester would manage to bring in two more players. The first player was Brazilian winger Tetê. His loan deal would be canceled from Olympique Lyon so Shakatar could send him to our side for the rest of the season. Tetê had one of the hottest starts we’ve ever seen from a player freshly signed to our side. He looked invincible against Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa. However, he seemingly disappeared after that. He would rarely be in the starting eleven and would just come on as a super sub. He wouldn’t score for the rest of the season.

Then just as the transfer window was about to end, Harry Souttar signed to the club. Leicester signed Souttar from Stoke City for a transfer fee of £17 million. The 24-year-old Australian looked fantastic on our defensive line. He looked to be a real leader and a potential future captain for the club. However, a sudden reemergence of Caglar Söyüncü saw Souttar get moved back to the bench. Three players were brought into the squad and were arguably not good enough for our starting eleven. Sadly for us, this isn’t the end of our money problems.

With us having such massive money problems, contract extensions were not able to be handed out. Now players that were able to bring in big amounts of money are leaving at the cost of nothing. Söyüncü is the first of the contract expires to leave as he’s already signed a contract with Atlético Madrid. He is the first on a long list of players who will be out of contract by the end of the season. Other players include Nampalys Mendy, Jonny Evans, and Daniel Amartey. The biggest name leaving for free is without a doubt Youri Tielemans. The Belgian midfielder was signed in 2019 for a transfer fee of £45 million and he is going to leave us on a free agent deal. That is £45 million down the drain.

This is somehow not the end of Leicester’s financial troubles. With this team getting relegated, star players are going to be sold on tremendously cheap deals. James Maddison was getting offers for £50 million throughout the summer and winter transfer windows. With him now being in the championship and with one year on his contract, it is likely he’ll get sold for half of that value. Harvey Barnes currently has a transfer value of £32 million. Who knows if we’ll get anything close to that. This is an issue we’re going to have for any player that wants to leave this summer.