Leicester as a football club needs to sell to be able to buy that is part of this business. TCF follows this club very closely and fans have been silent this summer regarding money issues and that the club have this and that.
Last season we did see a push for medals and trophies in spendings, but from a sporting point of view it never became what was intended. This club have no money to spend as we have said over and over again. The project is based on selling players and buying for lower fees. When you decide not to sell and decides to buy, a bank is behind with a loan that will need to be payed down quickly and with the amounts in play you can certainly not have 20 players on the fringe running around.
When the Thai owners came in and they took the club from one level to another we did not have transfer fees like we see today. This was minor fees and payments easy to handle for King Power and as we did explore they had even back then issues with FFP. Leicester cannot buy a player and sell shirts in the amount as we see at Barcelona, Arsenal, Man Utd and Real Madrid to just mention a few.
Clubs do need a massive fanbase to push up the ladder, without it you need to work on other limits to get through. To be an owner of a football club you are investing money not throwing it away. Khun Top will not use his money and throw in cash to a bonfire and seeing it all burning up, that will not happen, and looking at the maths in the Leicester financial reports you can fast understand how this business is floating and it is on a risky path as success on the field and in the transfer market is very much what is in the trade.
The fact that Leicester also run a womens team and a development squad, have two grand training facilities to look after is all money that must be found somewhere and sale of players is a key to it all. The route forward is clear. Without Europe and trophy hunts you need to scale down and next season will be a decision maker for Leicester, let’s hope Brendan Rodgers is ready and wants the challenge and not talk about lower expectations, because then you have to sell even more players to keep it running and it can fast become a difficult project to manage.
From an owners perspective he will always look after his investments. The players he signs, what type of value they were signed for and what you potentially can get for them if you consider a sale. A number of the players that has joined Leicester in the close past have not increased their value. Perez, Soumare, Daka, Praet, Iheanacho and several other players on the fringe brought in has not seen the same value increase as Wesley Fofana.
Khun Top knows this trade well and will give Brendan Rodgers everything possible to push the club forward, but he will not run the club into trouble as we see know, without setting stop to such madness having more than 25 players on the books at the same time. That has to stop and it will, and we do believe that Khun Top would like to see some type of increase in the value of Daka and also Soumare before he consider to make a sale. Of course a number of loans could help this situation short term, but then after the loan period a player will be close to a contract end and probably seek a move for a lower price, and you are in the same trap again.
We have seen Kasper Schmeichel leave, Eldin Jakupovic is out, we do believe Jamie Vardy is also monitoring his future as his next deal could be his last in football and a chance to play for Chelsea or Man Utd would be something to have on your CV.
Wesley Fofana is a player on a long term deal but also said to have been given blessings on a move away to a top club if the price is correct and the club do see the need to sell. At this point Chelsea are interested and at £80million Leicester should not risk the clubs future on stopping him from going.
Players who don’t want to be around or the club potentially will lose in a short period of time must be monitored carefully as new talent is explored and sales or moves are considered. We have seen a clever strategy in the past regarding older players moving them on when the time is correct, and that has to continue without any soft thoughts of players passed 35.
Jonny Evans, Ryan Bertrand, Marc Albrighton, Jamie Vardy are all passed 30, and as Leicester move forward those players needs to be shifted at some stage. To get new talent in should be possible and we all know that players want to play week in and week out and not rot on the bench, hopefully Brendan Rodgers will be able to also see more players from the academy coming through instead of looking in the transfer market.
Since the Premier League win in 2015/16 wages and transfer fees have gone through the roof while home grown talent still is very much needed. To introduce young players to first team life in Premier League is a difficult act and you cannot do too much in every season, maybe one or two players brought in from the development team. But without that flush of young talent from your own ranks and in a way ignoring them and letting them out on a free, you need to rethink what you are doing.
Wesley Fofana will be replaceable and if Chelsea are ready to pay £80million or more for a player with just 35 league games to his name then let him leave and not be afraid. Money can be well spent and sales again considered when the time is correct. Brendan Rodgers is a clever coach but regarding transfers and balancing the squad it looks wrong at this time and it looks as if no one is clearly the man in charge when it comes to all of this and that is a pity.
The key for the club is to get the numbers of first team players down and that qucikly as one or two new players should be signed to get the team as balanced as possible. This is still odd to watch as you cannot understand how something like this can happen at a professional business of this size, but as we have seen in the past, difficult situations occure at Leicester at different times.
Let’s hope everything will be sorted out as a sale of Wesley Fofana certainly would bring something back into the till and hopefully help the club move forward once again.
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