With injuries and sickness heavily disturbing the balance of the squad a number of massive decission dilemmas most be considered as Leicester take on their January transfer window approach.
We did address that up to four players could be signed to get the squad better balanced and at the same time be looking long term.
There are several matters to take into consideration as a squad of 25 must be selected and among the players in the squad 8 must be homegrown and 17 players can be from abroad. This is at present not a problem for Leicester. If you sell a player registered as HGP, you must look cleverly at the logistic and not upset the balance as that could give you future dilemmas that would disturb recruitment plans going forward.
To use players from your own academy and lift them through might be a more easier strategy as you can draw up a list of additional players with HGP status that are below the age of 21. Luke Thomas and Wesley Fofana who are first team regulars were both on the additional list this term.
Leicester have the following names in their current list. A new list is to be registered a few hours after the January transfer window shut and if more players should be added after the deadline it needs of course to be space enough for those players to get in, for instants a free agent would be an example of such.
Nampalys Mendy was left out of the squad of 25, with Filip Benkovic and James Justin being in there and surely such mistakes must not happen in January as Mendy would have been a great player to have available at this time, but with his supposed loan move to Galatasaray breaking down just minutes before deadline he was left in limbo. James Justin has been waiting for a return, but to gamble on him as long as the 17 rule was in no way questioned, we should have seen Mendy in there.
There are many different aspects to consider at the club at present, but as TCF have said before, buying fringe is a risky affair, and it upsets balance. When the number of bodies are down and out with six or seven missing you have a great struggle on your hand. Then the dilemma is clear should you bring in a youngster or going into the market short term to try to find and ideal signing. Loan signings are of course an option but will it really help much as players available could be few at the right standard.
Brendan Rodgers do have a number of details to look into before making up his mind on bringing in players. TCF would believe these are a few of the challenges to look at,
- 8 home grown players must be in the list of 25
- Who are injured and in risk of missing the rest of the season
- What positions are struggling in terms of having good alternatives
- Who can be sold. Letting home grown players leave, you need to be in balance with rules bringing in new recruits, possibly most likely to be home grown, with not more than one or two exceptions.
- Future planning above short term adjustments
We have seen in the past that the club has stumbled and made mistakes. Adrien Silva in mind and of course leaving Nampalys Mendy out of the squad are errors from past and present.
Brendan Rodgers must be carefull in his squad build after January as new players cannot be added without leaving others out and especially selling certain players must also be seen in a perspective that does not block other possible moves and addition of players going forward.
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