Leicester close to appointing this manager by this date

Leicester City are without a head coach going into the summer transfer window. However, according to reports the Foxes are close to an announcement.

Well, the window opened yesterday and the King Power club – who have had plenty of time to select and hire a candidate – are yet to appoint someone. Jon Rudkin and Co. are continuing to illustrate their ineptitude as back of house staff. Anyway, it looks like this is soon to change as per two reports.

Leicester City to appoint boss shortly

Firstly, we know that as the window recently opened, the Foxes will wish to appoint a new head coach before the end of this week. This would mean they can commence transfer activity on the basis of what the new head coach would like. The style of play and preferred formation is crucial before signing players.

As previously mentioned though, they could have decided upon a candidate and given then whatever was necessary before the summer window opened. Instead, Rudkin & Co have stalled, possibly due to their own arrogance around the club’s stature and ignorance to the very negative downward spiral the Foxes could be in.

Leicester City will be in an extremely negative position if they do not have a head coach to bring them out of the EFL Championship and then survive a season in the Premier League. The stakes could not be higher for an inept board.

However, further news would indicate a favourite has emerged among the excessively myriad candidates. So, here is what Fabrizio Romano has said, then we will look at the other options, why Leicester have chosen who they have. I shall offer a brief opinion on the outcome, too.

Top candidate

According to Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, the King Power club are close to the appointment of Enzo Maresca as their new head coach. We know the coach has been coaching alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Of course, we have been this far into a managerial race before. When Dean Smith landed the temporary role, Jesse Marsch looked to be said and done. So, we cannot merely count on the plethora of news agencies reporting on this quite yet. However, the Italian has been in the headlights since the beginning.

The other possibilities have been numerous. Graham Potter was the likely first choice, though he would never take a job at an EFL Championship club unless nothing else was available. Despite being at the top of the list, the English coach is impossible. You would have thought Rudkin & Co would have a clear list they could work down from there, but it all seems rather disorganised and chaotic.

Smith was/is still in contention, Scott Parker looked far along the line, (for goodness sake) Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Steven Gerrard, Russell Martin, Carl Hoefkens, Jon Tomasson, and Kieran McKenna were all linked. That is far too many names to be in a managerial list when we had all the time while Smith was in charge to commence talks with viable alternatives. I would have said the competition was between Parker and Maresca.

There remains plenty of speculation, and Maresca may wish for more backing. This being said, a completely refreshed and innovative back of house, taught under the ever-tactical Guardiola might be exactly what we need. However, I myself am slowly becoming excited by this unknown prospect – due to rumours circulating around Esteban Cambiasso’s involvement – yet doubts remain.

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.

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.