Foxes of Leicester
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Why Leicester’s high wage bill has proven to be a disaster

By Robert Garner

LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 15: A general view of the outside of The King Power Stadium ahead of the Premier League match between Leicester City and Liverpool FC at The King Power Stadium on May 15, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images)
LEICESTER, ENGLAND - MAY 15: A general view of the outside of The King Power Stadium ahead of the Premier League match between Leicester City and Liverpool FC at The King Power Stadium on May 15, 2023 in Leicester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images) /
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Leicester City players Patson Daka, James Maddison, Harvey Barnes, Luke Thomas, Caglar Soyuncu, Kelechi Iheanacho, Jannik Vestergaard, Boubakary Soumare and Ricardo Pereira (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images) /

The second mistake also occurred at the end of the that campaign. Not only did LCFC fail to recoup revenue on a major player sale, but they also embarked on a spending spree bringing in a number of players for a total of £50m on high wages: Daka, Soumare, Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand. None of these purchases have worked out as expected. Buying the two defenders from Southampton, in particular, was little short of a disaster. The expenditure wouldn’t have mattered quite so much had the Foxes qualified for the Champions League in 2019 and 2020 but their 5th place finishes was, in retrospect, a huge missed opportunity.

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So, the Leicestershire side now face a second tier term with a number of footballers on ridiculously large salaries in a division where financial restrictions are even more strict than the Premier League and where the club’s revenue has been decimated by relegation. As if that’s not bad enough, these players are not going to fetch big fees in the transfer market. What is for sure, Leicester simply cannot afford their current wage bill and we should expect more departures of players by the end of the transfer window in August.