Leicester was relegated last season. Surprisingly, they sacked Steve Cooper early in the season. They had never been in the bottom three during that time. We had little or no understanding of how this squad was put together last season. Strangely, when starting this one a tier lower, more mistakes were made.
A player expressing a desire to leave does not take away his ability to perform. He can still behave professionally. This is something you sort out before signing a player. You need to understand his type. Know how his reaction would be.
Leicester should have kept Wout Faes, Wilfried Ndidi, and Bilal El Khannouss. Should not have sold James Justin either, with little or no quality back up. Kasey McAteer would also have given more depth to the squad. Their presence could have helped the club fight for promotion instead of relegation. Faes and El Khannouss left the club on loan, Ndidi was sold for €9.5 million. They were all on running contracts. Would have been reluctant to sell James Justin and Kasey McAteer. Both would have been in or close to the starting line-up.
Instead players such as Hamza Choudhury, Jordan Ayew, Victor Kristiansen and Bobby De Cordova-Reid could have been sold or released. They are all fringe and not really contributing much. To sell players who are and should be certainties in this Leicester team and keep fringe men to believe they should take over, is something that we have seen, will not work. To depend on loan men to fix the results are neither a proper solution.
Wout Faes: "I'm ready to play and help the team" 👇https://t.co/mxiUl39aFa
— AS Monaco EN 🇲🇨 (@AS_Monaco_EN) January 14, 2026
Leicester at the moment have no good understanding of how you build up a relational squad. Ndidi, Faes and El Khannouss were 100% certain to play every game with a manager understanding football. They were the backbound of this football team, being seen as long term prospects, having contracts on those terms.
We do believe a first team squad should be build up with a certain hierarchy and balance. The inability to convince them to stay at Leicester does not look like a proper fight. they were all needed. Jordan James is the only proper signing this season. Having him join on loan would have been a great idea and provided more depth in midfield.
This would have seen Leicester having a proper set up with good squad depth
Goalkeepers: Jacub Stolarczyk, Asmir Begovic, Defenders: Ricardo Pereira, James Justin, Luke Thomas, Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, Ben Nelson, Jaamal Lascelles, Harry Souttar, Midfield: Harry Winks, Louis Page, Wilfred Ndidi, Oliver Skipp, Bilal El Khannouss, Jordan James, Forwards: Patson Daka, Jeremy Monga, Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, Kasey McAteer, Jake Evans
A well balanced squad, with alternatives. Good age balance and hopefully seen Leicester in a much better situation than what we see at this point.
The inclusion of Jaamal Lascelles as a short term back up could have been done in January, nothing more needed.
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