Leicester close to appointing this manager by this date
Experience versus the unknown
Leicester City have a tough choice. For me, there are always three primary considerations when selecting a head coach: experience, style, and developmental capacity. Essentially, what have they been involved with, how would they want a team to play, and how could they help to develop the side while improving themselves.
Observing the list of candidates, Parker stands as the most realistic known quantity. The former Fulham head coach has plenty of experience with promotion battles and attempts to win the Championship, a consistent possession-based progressive play style, and has improved/moulded young players. McKenna is another one I like the look of, less experienced but having a far greater capacity to develop than Parker.
So, where does the new frontrunner stand in all of this? Uncertainty befalls this particular selection. Maresca is a former player, having performed for Italian side Juventus all the way to English side West Bromwich Albion. What a career to have. Currently, his relevant coaching experience is limited to being an assistant coach to ‘Pep’.
At the ‘Sky Blues’ the Italian coach is in a privileged position. He coached their elite development side to their first Premier League 2 title, and as such provides an interesting proposition: the Manchester City youth setup. Despite no senior managerial experience, he knows the youth players at ‘City’ and has developed and improved several of them, while also having connections to themselves and their agents.
We can expect him to play a possession-based, dominating progression style of play reminiscent though hopefully not identical to the tactical mechanicians of the blue side of Manchester. Therefore, there is understandably a great deal of respect for the possible change of approach from LCFC.
dark. Next. Good source claims Leicester goalkeeper could leave on loan
The Foxes need a long term manager who can reset the play style, develop their star youth players such as Kasey McAteer and Sammy Braybrooke, while also having strong transfer links to the star players of other clubs. Enzo Maresca may not have been my first choice, but he represents an exciting unknown against the experienced known.