Brendan Rodgers joined Leicester four years ago and since his arrival more than 20 players are gone. The cycle of change has gone on since his arrival, and this summer more departures are needed.
Chelsea comes next as Leicester prepare for their home meeting on Saturday, of course a massive game for Brendan Rodgers as a fifth defeat in as many games will be fatal.
Looking at the recruitment policy over the years he has been in charge, we cannot really say we have seen a clear picture and we believe that another group of players will leave and many on a free transfer.
James Maddison could be sold and a fee of £75million is said to be the price to pay. Maddison has not yet agreed to a new deal at Leicester and he most certainly will not agree to a new deal at the club.
We will also be very surprised if players such as Jonny Evans, Daniel Amartey, Papy Mendy, Youri Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu will stay on.
The future life of Jannik Vestergaard, Marc Albrighton, Ryan Bertrand, George Hirst, Hamza Choudhury and Dennis Praet are also in the air. You can also add Timothy Castagne and Luke Thomas to a list of possible departures.
Jamie Vardy is another player that we could put a question mark behind. His role in the team looks distant, and at present Brendan Rodgers mostly use him as a sub, but would like to keep him as he could still be of great value, not just for his goalscoring ability, but because his presence will be important as a figure of trust and experience.
The challenge for Brendan Rodgers is what to do with an unsettled squad as he has a massive group of fringe men.
If you bring in players on false terms and they all have the idea that they will be in reach of a first team place and instead becomes spectators, then you are in trouble, not just because players are not playing, but also getting them to sign the dotted line in the past, they were all given some sort of trust that they would be playing a certain amount of games.
When Brendan Rodgers arrived he had the following squad;
Goalkeepers: Schmeichel, Ward, Jakupovic
Defenders: Benalouane, Magurie, Morgan, Soyuncu, Chilwell, Evans, Pereira, Benkovic, Fuchs, Amartey
Midfield: Mendy, Maddison, Iborra, Tielemans, Choudhury, Ndidi, James Silva, King, Kapustka
Forwards: Vardy, Iheanacho, Ghezzal, Albrighton, Barnes, Okazaki, Slimani, Diabate
In four years you still have a number of these players around, and some are coming to an age that you cannot expect any tranfer fees to be paid. Others are soon out of contract and not either bringing in any cash to use for new players.
But we beleive in fewer players and a better team with a more solid foundation. today you have too many fringe men and they will not be 100% prepared, not 100% match fit and not 100% satisfied, as their situation is difficult.
This should lead to Brendan Rodgers dropping his uncertain safety net, having 25 players to chose from and instead drop his numbers of first team players. He should go down to 18 players for his first team rotation, and hopefully settle a team. If you cannot keep 18 players fit, you need to call on the youngsters to just fill the gaps, something that would have given the academy a much higher status and of course developed more players from your own ranks. This is the only way forward.
So who can go and who should stay, and please, not be tempted to go out and splash out cash on players you rank from 19 to 25 in your squad, that would be an absurd policy.
The problem with Rodgers, as we also did see at Liverpool, he splash out heavy money on players he is not really interested to use, just to be safe if injury strikes in heavy loads. That policy is not possible for Leicester to continue with long term as it will just give you as a manager massive headaces and financial problems.
You have no top goalkeeper at present, as we do not judge Ward or Iversen as a top quality Premier League goalkeepers. Iversen could have taken the step this season, but no opportunities in PL has crashed that development. A new goalkeeper of high PL quality is needed, then both Ward and Iversen should be sold. This could give Jakub Stolarczyk a chance to become 2nd choice, and open space for a new top quality goalkeeper to bring in.
Victor Kristiansen, Harry Souttar, Wout Faes, Ricardo Pereira and James Justin are all players to keep. Ben Nelson should also be included in the squad. This would open up space for one young recruit from the academy, but not be tempted to by fringe as the players counted would be good players to use in a back four. Timothy Castagne, Jonny Evans, Daniel Amartey, Jannik Vestergaard and Luke Thomas should all be either sold or releaesed.
In midfield you will have Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Wilfred Ndidi and Bouba Soumare, with youngster Sammy Braybrooke as a fourth alternative, also giving an opening to buy a new quality player to be added for a position to fill. Dennis Praet, Youri Tielemans, James Maddison, Papy Mendy and Hamza Choudhury could all be sold or released.
Up front Kelechi Iheanacho, Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy as well as Harvey Barnes could all be given a chance to stay, with one more quality addition to be made for a player that can fill a flank position. Marc Albrighton, George Hirst and Tetê should all be given a chance to leave.
This would give the club the following transfer challenge, bringing in a goalkeeper, a creative offensive midfielder and a flank attacking option.
Here are our three favorite targets to bring in, all of them should be in reach and looking at Leicester as a good option for their next step
Goalkeeper: Darren Henderson (Manchester United)
Midfield: Emile Smith-Rowe (Arsenal)
Flank: Ismaila Sarr (Watford)
Going into the next season, you need at least to decide on one or two sales and not let your love for one player decide on keeping him if the player himself is ready to leave. A good transfer fee would open up for a possible replacement, but again do not flirt with players who you do not consider as a certain first team addition.
LATEST BOOK RELEASES
CHECK YOUR FOOTBALL RESULTS
CHECK ALL GOALS
Leave a Reply