My two cents on Leicester City: A team many would dream of being
Yesterday’s 5–0 win over Newcastle United at the King Power Stadium was more than just a fleeting reminder of Leicester City’s brilliance. While it was only against a Magpies side that could well go down and hardly showed any ambition to attack, I can’t help but cast my mind back to the start of last season.
Under Claude Puel- a manager I’ve always liked because of his exploits in France, the Foxes looked aimless. They seemed to be swimming in an ocean without knowing where they’re going. The playing style was dour and despite having a bunch of really good players, it never helped anyone prosper.
What this team is under Brendan Rodgers is poles apart from Puel’s debilitating side. Rodgers has made this team play a brand of football that many top clubs across Europe would dream of playing. He’s done that with zero superstars but it has taken immaculate recruitment to get here.
The recruitment of Rodgers himself was a masterclass. The former Liverpool and Swansea boss often became the butt of jokes in the country. Many thought he wasn’t the right man for a club like Leicester, which had to break into the top eight once again.
But John Rudkin knew what he was getting in Rodgers. He was getting a man who plays an attractive brand of football as opposed to what was on show under Puel. He was getting a man who had plied his trade in the top tiers of the English game. He was getting a man who gave Liverpool an identity that scared many clubs before games even started.
But this was a part of a recruitment drive that had already begun post the miracle of 2016.
The loss of NGolo Kante was the heaviest and the earliest one. The Frenchman’s move to Chelsea saw Leicester initially bring in Nampalys Mendy from Nice. Built in Kante’s mould, Mendy was seen as the heir to the new Chelsea star but it never worked out for him. The pace of English football seemed too much for him.
The signings of Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani also turned out to be disappointments. There seemed to be a lack of planning at the club and with Claudio Ranieri gone, there was no set style of play too.
But in January, the Foxes decided to sign a replacement for the struggling Mendy by signing 20-year-old Ndidi from Genk for a fee of 15 million euros. That set the tone for many transfers in the next few seasons. Today, Ndidi is the most influential defensive midfielder in the Premier League.
The lack of a philosophy on the pitch did let signings like Vicente Iborra and Adrien Silva down. Both of them are not bad players at all. But having them in midfield defined Leicester’s slow playing style under Puel and Craig Shakespeare. There was no dynamism or zip. Danny Drinkwater had left too.
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But the same summer, Leicester also signed Harry Maguire from Hull for 17 million pounds. With the effects of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth fading, Leicester needed a generational change. Maguire was a mark of that generational change. He was that modern-day defender who would lead the club forward.
The situation of Riyad Mahrez was a precarious one. He had handed in multiple transfer requests but stayed.
The next summer, the Algerian did leave for Manchester City. Instead of splashing the cash on a superstar, the Foxes went under-the-radar and signed a certain James Maddison from Norwich City. Rachid Ghezzal was also signed. The club saw him as a replacement for Mahrez.
They somehow managed to sign Ricardo Pereira as a replacement for the past-his-prime Danny Simpson. For a club like Leicester, signing a player who could’ve easily gone to Manchester United or Tottenham was a coup. The biggest reason why players like Ricardo chose Leicester is when the buying club has a scripted plan that they are to approach in the next few years. Leicester had that.
As rumors swirled around linking Maguire with a move to Man United, Leicester recruited three defenders in the same window. Jonny Evans arrived from West Brom. Filip Benkovic arrived from Dinamo Zagreb and Caglar Soyuncu, who was linked with Arsenal and Roma, arrived from Freiburg. The club had made sure that if Maguire did leave, they won’t be in trouble.
To add dynamism to the midfield, Silva was swapped with Youri Tielemans- a genius move for a player who was touted to play for a powerhouse club very soon. The reason he arrived- Leicester had a plan.
While that plan failed to work out under Puel, who could never connect with the club’s fans and ideas, Rodgers came in to inherit a side that was meant to play an attractive and free-flowing brand of football.
This past summer, it was clear that Leicester finally had an approach to the game that was thriving. That is all players sometimes need to join a club and enjoy playing there.
Tielemans’ move was made permanent despite Tottenham and United being in the race. Ayoze Perez’s signing from Newcastle costed 30 million pounds but Rodgers knew what he was getting in the versatile winger/forward/ attacking midfielder. He was getting a grafter who could gel everything together on the pitch. His no-nonsense workrate would open up spaces for players like Maddison, Jamie Vardy and Tielemans. It was a masterclass that few spotted.
With Maguire gone, few feared that Leicester would struggle defensively. A lot like what Borussia Dortmund have done over the years, the Foxes already had ideas in the pipeline to replace the Englishman. Soyuncu has stepped upto the plate brilliantly and his near-arrogant swagger on the pitch is pleasing on the eye. His long-hair and calm demeanor on the ball and off it has made every Leicester fan forget about Maguire’s exploits at the King Power.
Be it how they play or how they conducted business, Leicester have become a model that a club like Manchester United can follow. They, unlike many top clubs, have exterminated their deadwood before it became too toxic. Ghezzal has been loaned to Fiorentina. Musa and Slimani left a while ago. Simpson was released and Shinji Okazaki was sold.
Today, they play like a machine. Like they are parts of a human body that is working perfectly- every organ working in cohesion with one another.
The fact that they play lovely football is a testament of how well they have done in the market. Many clubs would want to be where they are and how they are. And it isn’t just about Rodgers. Joe Rudkin and the owners deserve immense credit.
