Leicester City from brilliant shopping to easy fix

When money is shuffling in you tend to go for a better meal, nicer furniture, probably a new car, but will this make you happier and over time see a slide in brilliance as we did see with earlier “shopping” and how Leicester City showed the World how to buy and find those talents that over time can bring you the success you are searching for.

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Going a few years back, money wasn’t available in the way it’s today, though Brendan Rodgers needs to sell to get his team better step by step, it’s a difficult formula, and fans might believe that Ben Chilwell, Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Harry Maguire and N’Golo Kantè are selfish and would just leave for the love of it, it’s a more complex affair.

But what worries TCF more than anything else is the fact that those brought in are very expensive players and not those type of characters as earlier came to Leicester City, so why is money splashed out on those type of objects instead of finding those talents of the past.

This has to do with strategies and how the club is build, and to splash the cash wrongly as we have seen over the years since returning to the top flight, it’s a shame really, so why are Leicester City not just staying loyal to their previous system and pinpointing those types that we used to for much minor fees.

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If you see a player that would slot directly into the first team, and have the attributes to succeed and probably have a previous life at the same level, you could use a large amount as was used on Youri Tielemans, but it looks as if Brendan Rodgers and his current team of scouts and analytics are going on another shelf even if they are out looking for players not really seen as certain first team material.

There are talent that this summer moved to bigger and better clubs than Leicester City for just pocket money and why are they overlooked and not on the radar, strange and sad really. The signing for Wesley Fofana is one strange example, even the move for Timothy Castagne must be questioned, because they are players who are expensive and from shelves that Leicester City in previous years never looked.

So why are not players from Manchester United reservers, Le Havre, Caen and Birmingham City not on the radar of those people organizing transfers at the moment. Players that could flourish and hopefully in a year or two would be ready to take their next step.

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Jamie Vardy is a rare and special example, and his route is of course, not a regular one, but his talent has been seen. You have a few of these players in the U.23 set up, and one great example to follow is the signing of James Justin, who can be described as one typical Leicester City addition, and one great as well.

Not to complain as Leicester City are third in the table and the season start has been fantastic, just overlooking that dreadful affair against West Ham United, which was an awful act of football at a home pitch and not of standard to anything.

Would love Leicester City to go back to that type of recruitment we did see a few years back as they just moved mountains with players perfectly picked, we need more of that, The Mahrez’s, The Drinkwater’s, Kantè’s, Maguire’s and Justin’s, just fantastic recruitment.

So instead of shopping at that very expensive shelf, just go a bit deeper in the chase and find those available for a lower price and probably getting them in as well as those who join for monumental fees and does have a “bigger head” as they probably are not that patient while waiting for their chance.

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Over time the current recruitment policy will see a decline as the club pay enormous amounts of money on players that have no first team plan in place. Ahmed Musa is a recent example of a player signed for a big money fee and paid a high salary, but not really no plan in place and it all ended up as a nightmare, and that should be the last example of such dreadful use of money.

When a manager buy a player he has a clear idea of how he rates the player, either a certain first teamer, a bench warmer or just one to fill out the numbers. To be allowed to splash big cash on a player you need to have a clear idea of that individual, and if you see him as a player for the future, surely you are not using big money on such an object, that is over time financial suicide. The current recruitment policy at Leicester City will long term be a problem as salaries and transfer fees paid to players not playing a major part, makes it difficult to slot talents in front of those misfits. This will interfere with the salary hierarchy that should mirror the quality and use of players, if not you will get an unbalanced and disharmonic squad.

That is why Leicester City should return to their old recruitment plan and not risk too much when not certain on the future of player. You need a solid and clear idea of the use of the player. If you have one or two in disharmony you are coping, but having a full team of misfits will never be great.

Islam Slimani, Rachid Ghezzal and Adrien Silva are just three examples of bad investment, Daniel Amartey, Bartosz Kupustka and Ahmed Musa are three others. You will have a problem looking those players in the eyes week in and week out, and at the moment Brendan Rodgers are dealing with the problem and that takes focus away from his main work.

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Leicester City have signed Chengiz Under, who could be available for £24million in the summer, Wesley Fofana for an astronomous fee and hopefully he will very soon be a first team regular, if not, it looks crazy. Timothy Castagne is one fine addition, but we did see his lower level in the game v. West Ham and that in his best position, so hopefully money is well spent.

Would love Leicester City to return to those recruitment systems that pinpointed signings of Mahrez, Kantè, Drinkwater, Vardy and mix that with talent nursed forward at the club, and of course those great free transfers as we did see with Marc Albrighton, Christian Fuchs and Esteban Cambiasso, the addition of Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu are others that have worked out fantastically, though Soyuncu did cost a great load of money.

Fans don’t bother about finance and they seldom think too deep into the life of a football club, but with a stadium capacity of just 32 000 seats or so, and a fanbase as thin as a string, compared with those clubs Leicester City are competing with at the moment, you have to organize a long life project in a way that makes it possible for the club to grow on it’s own and not be based on rich uncles and owners who are dropping money into the till when it’s empty.

We have seen clubs previously trying to win a title and splashing enormous amounts of cash on short term plans, over time such a policy will just make you die and suddenly you are back on your own as we have seen a QPR, Fulham and Blackburn Rovers to just mention a few, who are similar in fanbase as Leicester City,

You can use “major amounts” on players that you believe should go straight into the team, but not on players that are seen as “fringe”, that will long term be a deadly strategy.