Jannik Vestergaard looks to have proved everyone wrong, getting a chance to shine with Conor Coady out with injury and a new manager, and also having skills noticed to be of good use in the new set up.
We all know what type of schenes Jannik Vestergaard have played on in the past, being a steady performer for Denmark, Southampton and in Bundesliga before signing for Saints.
But one element not to forget is that Leicester are playing one level below and certain players benefit on the pace of the game going a bit slower, as their obvious best skills will get better in use, as the passing and headers of Jannik Vestergaard are of high standard, and he has shown so far that it will be difficult to take the Big Dane out of the starting eleven.
Not to take anything away from Jannik Vestergaard as we earlier have described him as one that could have shined for Bayern Munich or Barcelona, used correctly, with his vision, headers and passes among the best around, having such a player in the back, is heavy valued and should be recognized.
But to be a bit honest and direct we do have major players from the past that made their name as grand Leicester City players in the 2nd tier, and when coming up to the top league, not really having the same success and also losing the grip totally.
Junior Lewis, often getting into the worsed ever Leicester XI, had a tremendous career in the lower tiers of EFL, also helping Leicester back to the top flight with a number of good performances in the 2002/03 season, but struggling to adapt to Premier League. Junior Lewis played almost 400 league games at several clubs and his professional career is one to be very proud of.
Alan Young signed from Oldham Athletic in 1979, shining from his first kick in that fantastic 79/80 season, winning the 2nd tier, ending his first season with promotion and 14 goals in 42 games. Going up it showed to be a taller order for Alan Young as has tally sank to 7 goals in 38. “Youngy” never returned to the top flight later playing for Sheffield United, Brighton, Notts County and Rochdale.
Arthur Rowley is seen as one of the finest goalscorers in the history of this football club, but his best years were as a 2nd tier forward, struggling at the higher level, setting a still standing record of most goals scored in a season, 44, 1956/57.
Steve Walsh played for Leicester over a long period of time, joining from Wigan in 1986, keeping it going until 2000, when Peter Taylor made it clear he had no longer use of the strong defender, also often used up front. Walsh played most of his years at the club in the 2nd tier, being up and down on a number of occasions, joining the club as a top tier club. He took great part in the promotions, and not to be faulted in establishing Leicester as a Premier League club under Martin O’Neill, but also being part of teams relegated on two occasions, 1994/95 and 1986/87.
Matty James is another grand example of a player being fantastic at Championship level, currently shining for Bristol City as he did with Leicester in our previous run for promotion, but in his rare appearances for Leicester at Premier League level he fell through, but as soon as he went out on loan made instant impact at clubs at a lower tier, so his style looks much more suited with a less pacy game.
Age is also of course something to count when judging a player and his performance and not take into the picture that you are talking of two very different levels of football, Premier League and Championship.
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