Still just a few days afer a relegation of surprise and despair, moving into a face of looking for what is happening next, as the race for promotion will be the only focus going forward.
The manager question is still in the air, and will be up there for a longer period of time, not really seeing the interim project as one to continue, but so far no one has any answer to that question.
The question is of course how can Leicester get straight back up, and what must be happening to be able to achieve such a goal and who will be in charge to do the job.
Looking in the back mirror, we do have a few ideas on what was done back in the days of Martin O’Neill and Micky Adams who managed to build a winning unit on a short period of time, with some key elements to look at as they promoted Leicester to the glory land. Nigel Pearson also had the pleasure of doing the same, also having his methods well documented.
Those three promotion had all different platforms to build on with Nigel Pearson in a situation with a good financial balance and control, Martin O’Neill had a similar situation, getting funds to make signings that could change the picture, bringing in players such as Steve Claridge, Muzzy Izzet and Neil Lennon.
Micky Adams had a very unusual situation, getting a team promoted and also going through an administration at the same time, basically working with a smaller squad of unity and quality. This was of course a massive achievement by a popular Micky Adams, who had a good relation with fans through his time at the club, but his push for survival at the highest level was never one to happen as no money were available and he had to settle with free transfer moves.
This time the club is in a bit of a similar situation as we will see many quality players leave, but still also quite different as a new manager also needs to be appointed.
Embed from Getty ImagesJAMES MADDISON
LEICESTER CITY
James Maddison do still have a year left on his running contract, but we all believe that he will be on his way out and that the club will be able to settle a price and not again drag out the situation and understand that having a delay in that departure would be a misery.
Other players, still under contract, such as Timothy Castagne, Patson Daka, Wilfred Ndidi, Ricardo Pereira, Dennis Praet, Kelechi Iheanacho, Danny Ward, Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard and Harvey Barnes could all be part of a departure if bids are acceptable.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and James Justin are both players with a future at the club, despite being linked with a move away, they will probably be among the last to leave the building at this point.
Daniel Amartey, Ayoze Perez, Papy Mendy, Jonny Evans, Ryan Bertrand, Youri Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu are all out of contract in the summer, and among them only Jonny Evans looks as a possible player to give a new deal, as his presence could be of great importance in the Championship.
Hamza Choudhury had a good season with Watford and among the best players for The Hornets. His experience from playing in the Championship this season could be of some importance and he is probably part of a future.
This leaves a little unit left of players, but also opens up for a number of free agents, loan moves and possibly one or two good and solid signings that can close the gap and give the team the quality and energy needed to get back up.
Daniel Iversen, Alex Smithies, James Justin, Luke Thomas, Marc Albrighton, Harry Souttar, Jonny Evans, Hamza Choudhury, Bouba Soumare, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Victor Kristiansen, Jamie Vardy are the players that could be seen at the club next season. Maybe as many as 7 to 8 new faces needs to be added and hopefully one or two significant signings that can push this team to a promotion spot.
Among the players seen as possible sales, Wilfred Ndidi and Wout Faes both could be staying, we also believe that either Patson Daka or Kelechi Iheancho will stay on. George Hirst will return from his loan spell at Ipswich, after being a key player in their promotion push to the Championship.
Jacub Stolarzyk, Ben Nelson and Kasey McAteer all will return to the club after getting valuable game time at Hartlepool, Doncaster and Wimbledon, so it will be interesting to see how this set-up will look like when the season kicks off in August. Joe Wormleighton, Adam Cover, Ben Grist, Sammy Braybrooke and Will Alves could also be in the frame for first team duty as well as Marcal-Madivadua who has been inolved in the squad on a regular basis this season.
You also have Lewis Brunt and Tawanda Maswanhise who are both under contract alongside young goalkeepers Shituru Odunze and Brad Young.
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