To believe that Leicester will change dramtically under new manager Steve Cooper is a foolish and totally meaningless thought as life looks to be more or less as we do not like it turn out, but what we are used to. Players and owners are pragmatic. The club have put a man in charge to get their target goal achieved, even if they decide to make strange changes and reduce the power and quality of the squad of players in place.
The job for a new manager is to be able to use what he gets to make the team better and the order could be taller than Mount Everest. Still we have seen with previous managers it can be achieved in one picture, but in another a decline will usually be the outcome of the totality.
Wilfred Ndidi is close to departure, Wout Faes is said to be on the radar of Barcelona and we do know all the interest regarding Kiernan Dewsbury Hall.
We all remember how this went on also under previous men in charge, having to part company with major players to get money to buy cheaper replacements. Then using money to lure players to the club, without having a ground strategy to see the outcome of the total player journey.
Running a football club is a difficult arena, investing wisely as well as getting paid enough to be able to rotate your squad and keep a steady ship. Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Dennis Praet, Ayoze Perez, Kelechi Iheanacho and Nampalys Mendy are just a handful of players that were signed for substantial fees, but in their prime as footballers leaving for free, making it an example of horror regarding business planning.
This will of course see you having problems with possible PSR and FFP regulations as other players must be sold earlier in their contract years and of course then leaving gaps not likely possible to fill fully and proper.
We do see a bit of the same at present, looking to lose the battle to keep Wilfred Ndidi as well as being approached for sales of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Wout Faes before the 30th of June. At this point we do not have the overview to be able to say that the club will just continue a copy and paste strategy leaving a new manager in a problematic situation and look at him and say, you have to fix this no matter what.
The situation is a bit of a mix, as Wilfred Ndidi do have more time to decide on his future, having a contract at Leicester until the 30th of June. We have to wait for him to make a decision, but still hope for a u-turn as no one has made any official statement regarding the future, nothing from Leicester and so far no indication from the player himself.
The few rumours regarding Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are from a thin voice and looking far from what we did have in January, and if nothing happens before the 30th of June, the only reason for selling KDH must be to get money for replacements, so we just have to wait and see.
Looking back to previous managers, Nigel Pearson is the only one not being forced to sell his best players after a season, being able to keep his best men when promoted to Premier League, 10 years ago. Claudio Ranieri came to the club with a similar scenario, not seeing any major moves happening without his blessing, but as we all know had to wave farewell to N’Golo Kantè after the Premier League win, as the midfield meastro left with a gap unfillable as Leicester again became a struggling side in the Premier League.
Craig Shakespeare became the next manager placed in problems as he had to see Danny Drinkwater leaving without a proper replacement added, having that Adrien Silva situation to deal with, that in the end made it difficult for the long servant.
Claude Puel had his situation as well, being the one in charge when Riyad Mahrez left the building. Brendan Rodgers had to deal with several major moves, selling Ben Chilwell, Wesley Fofana and Harry Maguire during his time at the club, all of them moving on too early as they had the best years in front and maybe could have been around for another season or two.
Enzo Maresca came into the club last summer, never being able to use the quality of Harvey Barnes and James Maddison as they both became major sales to Premier League top clubs.
We will soon find out what type of job the new Chelsea manager did at Leicester. Probably heavily underestimated as he managed to bring Leicester back to the top flight with a lot of changes to sort out in a very short time.
CHECK YOUR FOOTBALL RESULTS
Leave a Reply