The upcoming season showcases a breaking apart of the traditional top-six. While Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur look like they mean business, the other teams look less appetizing. Arsenal’s transfer struggles, Chelsea’s transfer ban and Manchester United’s internal turmoil mean that there is a vulnerability with England’s elite. This is the season for a surprise package to upset the premier League top order and Leicester City look best placed to do just that.
Leicester City Can Upset the Premier League Top Order
Stability
Leicester are not a selling club, they act like they are one of the big boys. United may sign Harry Maguire but they will do so for a very inflated transfer fee. Ben Chilwell was given a similarly inflated valuation which appeared to scare off any potential suitors.
They have broken their transfer record to sign Youri Tielemans on a permanent basis and also swooped to land Newcastle’s Ayoze Perez. Tielemans was excellent for the Foxes last season, and that form saw him linked to bigger clubs. Keeping him in the Midlands represents Leicester’s ambition to kick-on from the excellent form they finished last season with.
Tielemans has already settled into this team, which is a major positive. It means that he will not need any kind of transitional period. Leicester already have a starting 11 that is cohesive and ready to battle. Maguire may still go but that shouldn’t derail the team as much as you’d expect.
Some people seem to have been caught up in the crazy market valuations. Maguire is not actually an £80-90 million player. Leicester fans will tell you that their most consistent defender is Jonny Evans. Maguire is younger, stronger, better on the ball and more powerful but he is not without his faults. His concentration and positioning has been brought into question, most recently for England where he was sketchy against the Netherlands.
While United will be getting a centre-back who is better than what they currently have, Leicester will not feel too downhearted. The club will have a receive a huge financial windfall and that money can be sensibly reinvested back into the team.
Attacking Potential
Jamie Vardy is a natural goal-scorer. He is a nuisance and a nightmare for defenders to deal with. Double-digit returns in every season since the sensational title success of 2015/16 tells you all you need to know about Vardy’s consistency. He may be 32-years-old but that shouldn’t be an issue. Leicester have no European commitments and Vardy has retired from international football which means the player can solely focus on the Premier League.
Tielemans and James Maddison promise creativity for any striker. Maddison was superb in his first Premier League season, notching seven goals and seven assists. His performances were shadowed by Tielemans who got three goals and four assists after arriving in January. The Belgian’s link-up play with Vardy was very promising.
Depth
The Foxes appear to have most bases covered. The likes of Nampalys Mendy, Hamza Choudhury, Marc Albrighton and Demarai Gray are not necessarily guaranteed a starting position but they will be keeping the pressure on those in front of them. It gives them some options to mix things up.
James Justin has also been signed to back-up Ricardo Pereira. The youngster will replace Danny Simpson.
The Rodgers Factor
Claude Puel seemed to have a solid tactical understanding but lacked the man-management skills to energize the Leicester dressing room. Brendan Rodgers has a good balance of both. He is an experienced coach with big ambitions.
“I know how he wants to play but Brendan is a clever coach and always has something up his sleeve,” Steven Gerrard told The Guardian in 2018.
“The reason why I respect him as a coach is that he always had something different.”
Gerrard’s comments about the ex-Liverpool manager illustrate the impact that his management had on some of the biggest names in the game. It was his idea to drop Gerrard into the number-six position, a move that revitalized the Liverpool captain in their 2013/14 title challenge. Rodgers stepped into a big club and enhanced his reputation so he should have no fear with the Leicester dressing room.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Frank Lampard are still very unproven at the deep end. Solskjaer may have been in club management since 2011 but none of those jobs compare with the Old Trafford post. That’s quite an extensive CV when you consider that Lampard’s managerial career only started last year.
Rodgers doesn’t offer unknowns. Solskjaer and Lampard may well find struggles as they look to adapt to their roles but Rodgers should be much more seamless. He ended the season with Leicester strongly, he clearly has the backing of the board and the respect of the players.
The Sky is the Limit?
There will certainly be no repeat of their title victory. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp would never let their standards slip to such an extent. However, there is certainly an opportunity for somebody to upset the order.
Rodgers will feel the top-six is achievable and he will have his sights on the Champions League. You can certainly make a case for them.
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