As reported by FoL, it has been a summer of turmoil at the King Power Stadium since the Foxes’ ignominious fall into the third tier of English football. A huge turnover of playing, coaching and managerial staff, coupled with the recent announcement that Leicester City are officially up for sale, has revealed a club in transition if not crisis.
Overhaul of the playing staff
The transformation, not yet completed, of the Foxes’ playing staff since the end of last season has been so profound that it is difficult to keep track of. Not including the players on-loan to Leicester last season (none of whom were retained) a total of 13 first team squad players have left and others may follow.
Immediately after relegation became clear, there was no possibility that the players out of contract would be retained. Jordan Ayew, Jamaal Lascelles, Ricardo Pereira, Patson Daka, Asmir Begovic and Wanya Marcal departed. Of the players still under contract, Harry Winks left for Italy and Jannik Vestergaard, goalkeeper Fran Vieites and Silko Thomas all came to an agreement with the club to leave.
Much needed cash, and a further erosion of the wage bill, was enabled by the sale of Abdul Fatawu to Ipswich Town, Jeremy Monga to Manchester City and Thomas Wilson Brown to Stockport County. In addition, Bilal El Khannouss left permanently for Stuttgart where he had been on-loan.
Further departures are likely with the transfer window not shutting until September 1st. Louis Page has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, Harry Souttar has been the subject of bids from Sheffield United, Stephy Mavididi is interesting Middlesborough and Glasgow Rangers, Oliver Skipp may yet move back to the Championship with Preston North End and Caleb Okoli has admirers in Italy.
Such a massive player turnover was inevitable given the need for the club to save money after relegation from the Championship and few Foxes’ fans will bemoan the departure of players who have performed so poorly in the past couple of seasons. The financial consequences of repeated relegations are severe and, in effect, the club will have to seriously consider offers for any of their players.
Nevertheless, the sale of Monga and possibly Page (along with the announcement that 16 year old academy talent Darren Motsi has also been poached by Manchester City) might be regarded as a false economy given their potential. Selling the family silver in this way might justify the cost of the academy set-up, but it leaves the club dangerously short of affordable talent particularly if promotion is achieved this season.
On the plus side, the departures have given opportunities to younger players, and Sammy Braybrooke, Will Alves and Jayden Joseph in particular have excelledso far.
Moreover, the club have been actively bringing players in. Conor Chaplin and Wes Burns from Ipswich and Liam Cullen from Swansea look like astute signings as does experienced goalkeeper Alex McCarthy. Loan arrivals Tommy Watson, Christian McFarlane and Harry Howell look like they can offer something in League One. The signing of striker Admir Bristric from the Slovenian league looks like a stab in the dark but, at a little over £1 million, is a risk worth taking. Why the club has also signed Blackpool keeper Franco Ravizzoli is anyone’s guess.
Up for sale
In a message to fans after relegation was confirmed, Aiyawatt Top’ Srivaddhanaprabha seemed clear that King Power would remain as the Foxes’ owners at least until they had seen the club back where it belonged (presumably, the Premier League). A few weeks on and it has now been confirmed that Leicester City are on the market with the price set at around £200 million.
I have previously written that selling Leicester City was a likely option for the King Power Group, who have been beleaguered by financial problems and might not be willing, or able, to continue ploughing money into a club seemingly in perpetual decline. And so it has proved. Realistically, the asking price is fantasy for a club in League One and with considerable debts. If they are serious about selling then they will have to drop the price.
At the very least, it is not a very stable climate for Russell Martin and his team. Whether or not it turns into a full-blown crisis remains to be seen. Failure to win promotion back to the Championship would be a financial disaster for the club and so the stakes this coming season, starting tomorrow at Meadow Lane, are high indeed.
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