My article at the end of the 25/26 season called the Summer 2026 transfer window ‘a summer like no other’. I predicted that 20 players from last season’s wretched squad of underachievers would leave. In the end it was 21 (including players we’ve sent out on loan).
For a club that have perennially struggled to move players on, especially while not taking a loss on them, this was quite an achievement. That’s accounting for half of those leaving being players we’d loaned in and/or players out of contract. Even so, a substantial, if not total, clearing of the desks was achieved.
This created an opportunity for a much-needed refresh and reset. However, if moving players on over recent seasons was our achilles heel, recruiting the right players has most definitely been our kryptonite.
So, with 13 league games, 2 League Cup games, 1 FA Cup game and 3 Jersey Mike’s Trophy games under our belt, how have the 16 new arrivals fared?
RATing: Excellent
This should be a pretty short list given where we are and the work in progress:
Emil Riis – Bristol City, c£2m
Oh Emil, where have you been all our lives? (or at least the last couple of years). With 8 goals already, Riis has done all that could have been asked of him and more. He’s provided the focal point for our attack and has shown he knows what the white metally-thing with string round it at the end of the pitch is.
It seems blindingly obvious that the simple act of recruiting him 18 months earlier would have been enough to have kept us up, despite the other well-documented issues last term. The target now is 20-25 goals for the season.
Rating: Very Good
John Lundstram – Trabzonspor (free)
Signed on deadline day and immediately made captain, Lundstram has given us some leadership in the centre of the pitch, which is something that’s been missing for a long time. Yes, he got sent off at Luton and has had the odd dicey moment in possession, but 5 goals (including a couple of real belters) and a bit of steely determination is just what we need.
A rare example in recent times of us recruiting an ‘experienced player’ who actually contributes positively on the pitch.
Rating: Promising
Will Smallbone – Unattached, Free
It was a bit of a surprise to see Smallbone sign after the transfer window had closed. He’s a player that should be too good for this level, which gets him into this promising category. In the small amount of game time we’ve seen, his corners look deadly and he can certainly play a ball.
However, there are question marks over his fitness and his ability to stay fit, which could become a problem as we’ve given him the Rudkin Standard 3-year contract on what will almost certainly be Championship-level wages.
I’ll stick with promising for now though, he could become a key player.
Ilari Kangasniemi – FC Inter c£2m
The big Finn has been used sparingly so far, with the last 10 mins against Wigan undoubtedly the highlight (and almost the most fun we’ve had at a home game in years!).
This is the sort of player we should be targeting (young, cheap, high ceiling), so the fact we’ve brought him in on a long-term deal is a step in the right direction. The calls for him to come into a very porous defence will continue to grow.
Kamari Doyle – On loan from Brighton
3 goals in all competitions and holding down a place in the first XI. It’s been a very good start and he’s clearly very ready for League 1 football and maybe higher.
Rating: Too early to commit
Admir Bristric – NK Olimpija, £1m
Having gained some early-season minutes, Bristric dropped out of the squad completely after Riis was signed, bar the hat-trick against Fulham Under 21s in the Jersey Mike’s Trophy.
Although it’s clear he’s ‘one for the future’ and the minutes in the cup games have been useful. Looking ahead, giving playing time to the likes of De Cordova-Reid towards the end of League games rather than allowing players like Bristric to develop is certainly under scrutiny. The Bosnian has to stay onside a little more often though.
Harry Howell – On loan from Brighton
Like Bristric, Howell featured in the early season games but hasn’t even made the bench in recent league games. Therefore, his second-half impact against Oxford City in the FA Cup was a welcome return to the fold. He’s just 18, but there is talent in there.
However, in those early season games, his refusal to use his wrong foot caused him all sorts of problems with his balance and effectiveness, so it was excellent to see him go on the outside onto his right foot to set up Riis goal in the FA Cup game. It definitely looked like he’d been working on it.
If he can force his way back into the squad, bearing in mind this is a squad that chronically lacks pace, creativity and direct running, he could be a major asset this season. If he can’t, surely, he returns to Brighton in January so we can bring someone else in to provide the above. Let’s hope it’s the former.
David Cornell – Free agent
Just the one Jersey Mike’s Trophy game so far for the Number 3 (4?) ‘keeper. Although, the fact former alumnus Danny Ward plays ahead of him in the Wales team is a ginormous red flag.
I’m also not sure we need him and McCarthy in the same squad but he’s here now and looked ok in the small amount of work he had in the game against Walsall if we ignore his role in the conceded goal.
Rating: disappointing
Alex McCarthy – Southampton, free
Those first two games of the season against Notts County and Burton Albion were nothing short of chaos. Asking a ‘keeper, one who Russell Martin knows very well, to have that amount of the ball was crazy, culminating in some serious derision from the stands in the Burton game and Jakub Stolarczyk returning in goal soon after. However, Stolarczyk’s unfortunate serious injury have meant it’s back to one-time England capped McCarthy as our number one.
The reality is, whoever is in goal for us at the moment (and indeed any Russell Martin team over his history as a manager), faces a tough gig. We concede far too many big chances, let alone shots, which has meant McCarthy has had a lot to do.
Credit where it’s due, he’s already got a showreel of good saves this season. Russell Martin has obviously asked his defenders to pass to him on fewer occasions, and he’s allowed McCarthy to clear the ball when needed, much to the relief of everyone. But, on top of a number of errors, there’s also more than a whiff of ‘the ‘keeper could have done better there’ across a number of goals conceded, as age catches up with the 36-year-old who has looked slow to react too often.
If there is any money left in January, a loan keeper would be near the top of my shopping list.
Liam Cullen – Swansea, £1m
TalkSport’s Jason Bourne often recounts a caller from his Radio Leicester days who famously rang in to complain that ‘All Yakubu does is score goals’! So far this season you could put the same criticism Liam Cullen’s way.
Although he’s not banging them in at the rate The Yak did, Cullen has 3 very well taken goals so far, but I genuinely can’t think of anything else he’s done on the pitch.
Overall, it’s a concern that one of the few players we signed for money in the summer (on, you’d assume very good wages) has already lost his place in the first team at League 1 level. He simply needs to get involved more when he’s on the pitch.
Warren O’Hora – Hibernian, c£500k
Time to dig out our receipt? O’Hora (or O’Horror as he’s increasingly being called) has really struggled. It’s a sobering reflection of how poor the Scottish Premiership is that someone can drop from their top tier and not look very convincing at all down south in England’s third.
At 27, he’s quite an unusual signing for Leicester in recent times, as he’s supposedly in the prime of his career. As he’s another one on a 3-year deal, let’s hope these first few games are simply a settling in period and once he’s finished reading his book, he’ll get up to speed (and stop scoring own goals).
To be fair, it can’t be easy to have Caleb Okoli as a defensive partner either.
Wes Burns – Ipswich, c£100k
The only significant impact Burns has had this season is the furore his partner has caused by having a pop at Leicester fans on social media. May I politely suggest it’d benefit everyone if Wes did his talking on the pitch, because so far, the 31-year-old’s 3 year contract is already looking 2 ½ years too many.
Conor Chaplin – Ipswich, free
Chaplin arrived with real pedigree at this level a little while ago, but with a lot of concerns about his injury record since then. To the surprise of no one, he’s struggled with injury so far and looks a long way short of being match fit.
He’s yet another player with a 3-year deal, this time a few months shy of his 30th birthday, so he really needs to get himself fit and start earning his no doubt considerable salary.
Franco Ravizzoli – Blackpool, free
If you were hoping he’d be a temporary replacement for McCarthy until Jakub is back, you started tempering those expectations very early into our FA Cup game.
A 6th tier team scored 2 goals past him, one of which was direct from a corner while he marked our defenders. It doesn’t look like he’ll be challenging McCarthy any time soon, which is a real problem.
Tommy Watson – On loan from Brighton
Unlike Harry Howell, Watson has experience at first team level, including that famous winner in the Championship play-off final for Sunderland 18 months or so ago. Therefore, although both haven’t featured too much, I think it’s easier to be more disappointed with Watson as much more was expected.
The change of formation hasn’t helped him (like Howell too), but the reality is, it’s no good for him or us for him to not even make the League match-day squad let alone the team. If that doesn’t change soon it feels like an easy decision to end the loan in January.
Christian McFarlane – On loan from Manchester City
McFarlane’s competition for the left back/wing back slot is Luke Thomas, who’s currently keeping him out of the team and a Martin favourite. This is not a good sign for the young man’s prospects as a footballer.
As with Watson, if he’s not in the team by January (or the bench even) a termination of his loan makes sense for both parties, with an upgrade on the left side of defence a high transfer priority (as it has been for 6 years for fans, despite the club’s thought processes).
Conclusion
The signing of Emil Riis is the big positive so far. His goals have reduced fears of a third successive relegation and pushed us into midtable territory.
However, the number of players I’ve graded as disappointing so far is reflected in our current league position. It’s been the likes of Louis Page, Sammy Braybrooke, Will Alves and Jaden Joseph that have stood out, rather than many of the new signings so far.
Those four plus Riis, Lundstram, Smallbone and Doyle do make for a good core though, if a few others can step up to the plate and perform.
We’ve won 5 of the last 7 in all competitions, which at first glance is a huge step forward considering we won just 4 games in all competitions from January to February. This has lifted the mood a little.
However, scraping the surface shows that we’ve beaten 5 teams below us, including 2 outside of our league. We must therefore temper excitement by acknowledging that we only drew against a very average Stevenage who were level with us and lost to an above average team in Luton above us.
Defensively, we look very weak and certainly not up to promotion standard at this point. This has to improve, although Martin’s record as a manager across all his teams suggests this will continue to be a problem.
The next league game is versus top of the table Huddersfield, who alongside Stockport have looked like a clear cut above. It’ll be a good test of where we are going into the hectic Christmas period.
To be successful this season and to push ourselves up the table towards the business end, this international break needs to signal the conclusion of the settling-in period for the new recruits and more players need to improve to join Riis in the excellent signing category very quickly.
