Have Leicester City had a good transfer window?
The final tally of Leicester’s summer shows 9 new faces replacing 16 departures. In the cold light of day, how do our writers rate Leicester’s summer as a whole?
Jamie Barnard
Just about. Whilst I think we’ve ended the transfer window with some decent additions and more depth where it was badly needed (on the wings), the window is about outgoings as well as incomings. It’s concerning that we continue to show an inability to move players on for fees outside of big sales of our most prized assets.
I sometimes feel like the club is too nice when they need to shift players. Last summer (in a window where we needed to sell to buy) I remember hearing Rodgers talk of taking a squad of 30+ to Evian and thinking that hardly told the likes of Perez and Vestergaard that they weren’t wanted. We don’t banish players to the under 21s and make their life at Leicester intolerable to the point they’re on the phone to their agent saying “get me out of here sharpish”.
We’re seeing that again right now with the likes of Daka, Ward and Iversen. Whilst Enzo might have wanted to make a point to the hierarchy by having two keepers on the bench, it hardly screams to someone like Ward that he has no chance of any football here.
I think the signings of Coady and Winks were really smart: experienced players in right from the off. I like the potential of Doyle, Mavididi and Cannon. Fatawu and Akgun have some good pedigree to be playing at this level. But there are quite a few there on loan and we’ve kicked the can down the road a little in terms of expenditure and I’m sure that must be because we couldn’t shift all of the players we needed to out (or at least we couldn’t permanently).
The other thing that holds me back from going full blown ‘yes’ is the pace at which we did business. Maresca has been operating with a hand tied behind his back for these opening games (which makes the results return even more impressive) in that he’s had to play without wingers and play inexperienced kids from the off. His frustration at that was palpable. We got away with it, but there’s no hiding the fact we were slow and things seemed to ground to a halt whilst the club was on a vanity project in Thailand.
We learned that the signing of Doyle on loan was done to get it through quicker. A permanent deal was there to be had and we have no option to buy included. That one is already looking like it will come back to bite us with the strong start he’s had to his time at Leicester and the fact he’s so integral to the system as a left-sided defender who can play at full back and in the middle. We’ll get hit with a big fee if we want to keep him as we go up or we’ll lose him to someone else if we aren’t promoted and he’s impressed at this level.
Jon Rudkin: you’re not off the hook yet, pal.
Chris Iliffe
For a Championship side we’ve had a brilliant transfer window. We acted quicker then I thought in getting Maddison and Barnes out and, although I wish we had got more for them, it enabled us to get cracking with the long awaited refresh. Enzo has bought in some bright, keen and talented youngsters who have already breathed a fresh and much needed energy to the squad.
Alongside the youth of Hermansen, Doyle, Casadei and the like, we have got Coady and Winks in too. These are huge statement signings and two brilliant and experienced lads. The refresh has happened, and bar adding one final defensive cover and another attaching midfielder, we’ve done really well. It’s an overall 9/10 window for me.
Iain Wright
When I look at the window holistically, overall I think it's been a successful one. 15 players have left and 9 have come in. That's a huge turnover. It'd been preferable to do the selling/loaning a bit sooner and there are definitely questions as to why we're stuck with certain players, but ultimately I think we've done well and seemingly avoided a financial meltdown.
A year ago, Rodgers wanted a refresh, something akin to having a new kitchen and bathroom in your house. This year we've had to bulldoze the house to the ground and rebuild it using only a small amount of the remaining materials. Not only that, the rebuild has had to be done to a far lower spec.
This is a brand new start, so people complaining about losing to Hull when we used to be battling for Champions League a few years ago is irrelevant. This is not the team it used to be. Some of the protagonists that caused this have left, some are still in the boardroom, but ultimately, as much as it hurts, it's in the past and not Enzo's problem.
In my view, there's been far too many grumbles in the stadium and expectations amongst some are far too high. Players like Barnes and Maddison have been sold for £80m between them, you can't expect £6m Mavididi and loanee Akgün to fill their boots immediately.
Considering the overhaul completed, combined with a number of deals we'd have like to have done but didn't, I think 12 points from 15 is a fabulous return and credit to Enzo for getting us to this point. I'm certain the manager knows we need to move the ball quicker, press in a more organised way and create more chances; but he's been here two months! Not only that, he's been working with a majority of players that had question marks over their future throughout. And of course with a bonkers pre season thrown in.
I feel that the majority of fans do back the manager and buy into the style he wants with the young and inexperienced players he now has. For those that are sceptical, that's fine, time will tell who's right, but please leave the grumbles until you're away from the stadium as this new Leicester City needs a bit of TLC from the stands while they settle in.
Joe Brewin
Yep. Flogging Maddison and Barnes early was good sense – but offloading others was always going to be much more difficult. They’re unwanted for a reason… so on that note, shifting Soumare, Castagne, Kristiansen, Thomas and the out-of-contract clan is good work.
Finishing the window with five goalkeepers and four strikers (playing one of each) is baffling, but the positive of that is having the right quality for two key positions: Hermansen was badly needed, while Cannon looks very promising for this league. Keeping Iheanacho could be big.
Winks, Coady and Doyle are all clearly excellent additions; Casadei, Fatawu, Yunus and Mavididi more unpredictable by the very nature of their age and positions, but make sense and fit the profile.
Was it a perfect window? No. But with what we know right now, I’d say it was a good one.
Adam Hodges
When Enzo Maresca first visited Seagrave he identified straight away what needed to change. He went straight to it by removing the coaching staff that had seen the club through good times and bad but had grown stale.
With a relegation, coupled with players running down their contracts, it was always going to be a revolving door over the summer and the squad is generally looking better than it was in July.
Players who had overstayed their welcome (Bertrand, Evans and Amartey) are gone, along with their eye-watering wages. To be replaced by a blend of youth and experience that you need to succeed in the Championship. Conor Coady and Harry Winks looked to this experience, with Coady being the voice of strength at the back and Winks being the 'quarterback' and linking the play from back to front.
Maresca has also used the loan market to bring youth players of high quality to the club; like Doyle and Fatawu, who impressed on debut. The first half of the Hull City game illustrated that we lack the creativity that was lost when Maddison left. I have high hopes for Casadei to fill these shoes in attacking midfield and he needs to start games to learn to link up with the lone striker.
Leicester got a last-minute deadline day signing with Tom Cannon joining from Everton. He scored 8 from 20 league games when on loan for the second half of last season for Preston North End. Cannon will surely get game time when Iheanacho goes to the AFCON in January.
Maresca-ball sees playing out from the back and this starts with new goalkeeper, Mads Hermansen, taking the ball outside of his box like an extra centre back. He's not a bad shot stopper as well.
With so many ins and outs the team still needs time to gel and the international break has come at the right time. It's been a successful transfer window with new acquisitions made in key areas. Now it's up to the coaches and the players to get to work and putting plans into place in defeating a deep-block teams are likely to play against us.
