Players and agents are playing a big part in the decision making regarding a sale of a player, together with the bids coming in for the player in question. The way Leicester City also manage their business makes it possible to get the highest price.
Transfers are difficult and it is of course a great part of football, but in all very risky and big money involved, as we have seen in the past a failure in the market can result in a heavy decline. There are also risks to consider when signing a player getting special clauses in their contracts.
Most fans doesn’t take into consideration all the complexity surrounding a move and they just start complaining if a good player is sold and a new, who’s coming in, is not able to fill the gap. The fact that Leicester City are able to keep Jamie Vardy is the most important, as his impact at this club is like Totti’s impact was at Roma. Vardy is “the glue”.
Brendan Rodgers has not really been easy to read regarding talk of transfers as he looks like one that is not the person having the final word in this decisions, with a club like Leicester City depending their existence on sales to keep it possible going forward and be in line with UEFA FFP rules.
If you look at Leicester City’s financial status over the last two years and the fact that the club owners have also other businesses to look after, you can see a pattern that is not in line with the football management at the club. In perspective a real tragedy for Leicester City who have seen fantastic players such as N’Golo Kantè, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater and Harry Maguire all leaving. Few probably noticed the fact that one of the best forwards in European football Andrej Kramaric left the club for a big fee in the summer of 2016, seeing a Leicester City profit on the sale of around £2million.
As a manager you will always like to keep your best players and build a team with continuity among those most important, that’s why these transfers are a nightmare for every manager coming in at the club, and to see those players also sold to their main competitors makes it difficult to understand how Leicester City ownership believe that every man they hire to run their football team will be able to perform “magic” without getting the right financial backing and to stop the club from selling their best, which is not the managers intention.
We all know that Leicester City with N’Golo Kantè would have been a clear candidate to win both Champions League and Premier League, because he was probably the most important player for Claudio Ranieri in his magic act the season before. To lose Kantè was probably a massive shock for the manager and the unrest regarding Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy might have also disturbed the preparations going forward.
Leicester City might have been, in recent years, the best club on the planet to find talent and develop it to the top level of the football pyramid, but to just sell them on to your competitors with just a few seasons at the club is not helping anyone.
It’s a sad way of running a football club and Leicester City fans should not have high hopes of winning any form of titles with such a policy implemented, it will just be “luck” if the club is able to be up there in the top.
If this policy keeps it possible to stay away from the relegation zone is difficult to say, but it would probably make it very difficult for a manager to perform to his best as we did see with Brendan Rodgers towards the end of the last season, playing without Ben Chilwell, James Maddison and Ricardo Pereira.
Fans tend to believe that whatever team you put out on a match day, you will be able to compete, even if your best players are not playing. That’s just difficult to accept and of course unfair towards those who pick the team, taking all the different actions into the picture.
Claudio Ranieri had to see Kramaric and Kantè leave, Craig Shakespeare shipped out Drinkwater, Puel sold Mahrez and Brendan Rodgers was probably not thrilled by the fact that Harry Maguire left just a few months after his arrival. Rodgers will probably see more big money moves happening as long as he is in charge. This is a difficult spiral to be in and to find replacements could be difficult season in and season out.
We do see clubs around in Europe being able to cope with big sales and just continue to fight and repeat good results domestic, but often their best players are sold to clubs in other leagues and to other nations and in that way you will avoid those players strengthening your closest competitors.
Leicester City could see both Kasper Schmeichel and Ben Chilwell leave this summer, and it looks certain now that Brendan Rodgers will have to reduce his ambitions getting a new knife in his chest, with a possible sale of Ben Chilwell happning early next week.
Fans of Leicester City are often a bit naive as they probably see Chilwell as a player easy to replace, he is not, but this also affects other players at the club who see the pattern of a club just selling off their best players and not a place to be if you are looking for a trophy.
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