After nine consecutive seasons at the top table, a spell that included historic Premier League and FA Cup titles and famous European nights at the King Power, Leicester succumbed to a shock – and entirely avoidable – relegation two months ago.
Even despite a difficult 2022 summer in which not enough players were signed and not enough were sold, nobody could have anticipated their dramatic descent. Leicester posted top-half finishes in six of their last seven seasons, including five in a row, before slumping to 18th in 2022-23; a 10-place plummet from the previous year. A club whose recent history is defined by miraculous overachievement suddenly became swallowed up by its own costly mistakes.
After the death knell to Leicester’s slow procession to the Championship was sounded at Goodison Park, supporters’ thoughts began to turn to an uncertain future. A natural by-product of relegation is regeneration and at Leicester, a squad that had become overly familiar has undergone a necessary refresh.
James Maddison and Harvey Barnes have departed for a combined £79m to Tottenham and Newcastle respectively, while a batch of players that the club should have got rid of 12-18 months ago have left at the end of their contracts. Youri Tielemans has gone to Aston Villa, the top six’s newest gatecrashers; Caglar Soyuncu to Atletico Madrid; Daniel Amartey to Besiktas; Ayoze Perez to Real Betis; Jonny Evans to [checks notes] Manchester United; Nampalys Mendy and Ryan Bertrand to the free agency list.
Others will probably follow. Kelechi Iheanacho has been linked with Everton, Timothy Castagne is reportedly on Fulham’s watchlist, and Wilfred Ndidi is rumoured to be a Nottingham Forest target. Danny Ward hasn’t played a minute of pre-season.
It is telling of last season’s misery that, Maddison and Barnes aside, not many of the summer leavers will be sorely missed. Even Tielemans, the scorer of the second most significant goal in Leicester’s history in the 2021 FA Cup final – behind Eden Hazard’s strike for Chelsea against Spurs that handed the Foxes the title in May 2016 – left under a cloud.
Amid the swirling seas of change, there is at least one constant looking to steer the club back to calmer waters. Jamie Vardy, a veteran of Leicester’s last promotion-winning campaign in 2014, and at 36 years old a sporting veteran too, looks as though he’s sticking around after rejecting overtures from Saudi Arabia. Judging by his three league goals last season, Vardy’s time at the top has sailed, but clearly given his Saudi decision, there is fight in the wily old fox yet.
The volume of incomings hasn’t yet matched the outgoings, but Leicester have nonetheless begun reshaping a new squad to play a new style of football under a new manager, the former Manchester City assistant Enzo Maresca.
The Premier League-proven pair of Harry Winks and Conor Coady have arrived, along with highly-rated Manchester City defender Callum Doyle and (at last) a new first-choice goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen from Brondby. Ex-Arsenal youngster Stephy Mavididi, a forward who can play wide or through the middle, is tipped to join from Montpellier and plug the gap left by Barnes, and others will follow before the transfer window closes on 1 September.
There is plenty more for Leicester to do in the transfer market, but Maresca has made an impression on his new players with his vision for how he wants the team to play.
“It’s new for everyone and not just for me, in terms of what he is bringing. It is a possession-based way of doing things,” Coady, whose flexibility will come in handy, said. “It is important we all see what he wants us to do because his ideas are brilliant. The first few weeks have been full of information.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Italian has leant upon the tactical grounding he learned at the highly-acclaimed School of Pep, with Leicester adopting a back four out of possession, but reverting to a three-man defence when on the attack with the more offensive-minded full-back pushing forward in their warm-up games.
Leicester’s summer transfer business
Ins: Harry Winks (£10m from Spurs), Conor Coady (£7.5m from Wolves), Mads Hermansen (£6m from Brondby), Callum Doyle (loan to Man City)
Outs: James Maddison (£40m to Spurs), Harvey Barnes (£39m to Newcastle), George Hirst (£1.5m to Ipswich), Youri Tielemans (free to Aston Villa), Caglar Soyuncu (free to Atletico Madrid), Daniel Amartey (free to Besiktas), Ayoze Perez (free to Real Betis), Jonny Evans (free to Man Utd), Nampalys Mendy (free), Ryan Bertrand (free)
“The idea is to try to play in one way, the way we want, but it will require time,” Maresca said when asked whether Leicester would attempt to become the Man City of the second-tier. “Hopefully we can achieve it as soon as possible.”
A consequence both of relegation and an exodus of first-team talent is that greater opportunities for young players can emerge. Wanya Marcal-Madivadua, a 20-year-old Portuguese winger, is the leading contender to become the club’s breakthrough act of 2023 after catching the eye during pre-season. Left-back Luke Thomas will be buoyed by being a part of England U21s’ Euro success after a difficult campaign at club level.
Despite this summer’s upheaval, Leicester are regarded as the favourites to win the Championship and evens to achieve promotion via any method, according to some bookmakers. That status brings a different type of pressure to what was experienced when they were battling for survival. Divisional rivals will see Leicester as a scalp.
“Every team will want to come to our stadium and take points as probably for them we are the most important team in the Championship,” Maresca acknowledged. “I experienced this at City. Every team were trying desperately to get points from us as the best team in the Premier League. The same will happen with us and we have to be ready.”
With uncertainty surrounding who could stay, who could go and who could arrive, it remains to be seen how ready a new-look Leicester are to embark on their unforeseen new era. An opening game against beaten play-off finalists Coventry City is a tricky first test, albeit one that will be taken at home.
Suggesting that relegation can be a positive thing for a club is a luxury reserved for fans of other teams. Try telling Leicester fans or the club’s owner Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha that demotion was anything other than a sporting and financial disaster. But it was evident that a changing of the guard was required. After years of punching above their weight, Leicester eventually punched themselves out.
The good times were fun while they lasted. Now a new era begins.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/MwqIeK5
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