Searching for the next Cambiasso or Albrighton: Free transfers Leicester could consider
Back in 2014, Leicester City were preparing for life back in the Premier League. Free transfers underpinned that summer transfer window and ten years on, we may expect the same. What’s the free transfer market like and who could the Foxes move for?
Our first action back as a Premier League club was to…vote in line with the majority for VAR to stay despite the fact that no player or fan seems to enjoy it or respect it. Still, being eligible for the vote marks our return to the big league and means the registration embargo should now be lifted. We can sign some players!
Well, assuming we know what we can and can’t spend, have resolved the players out of contract and have a manager in mind for our men’s team, women’s team and the men’s Under-21s. I hope Mr Rudkin wasn’t planning any holidays anytime soon, that’s a hefty to do list.
On our last return to the Premier League in 2014, our summer transfer window was fairly modest in terms of total spend, but fairly big in terms of getting bodies in. We can likely expect more of the same this year unless the club are going to impersonate Nigel Pearson’s favourite large bird and carry on spending, consequences be damned.
That summer we brought in nine players for a total of £20 million. Half of that went on Leonardo Ulloa - and Andrej Kramaric in January was another £9 million. It was the free transfers though that stood the test of time and stole the headlines. Between Esteban Cambiasso and Marc Albrighton alone we got two stars. Their paths diverged but their place in Leicester history is assured.
The other free agents were the experienced Mark Schwarzer and Matthew Upson along with Ben Hamer and Jack Barmby. A more mixed set of success in that group, but less of an issue when we didn’t have to put out a lot of cash for them. We’ve had a decent hit rate on free signings in the Premier League - the year after, we brought Christian Fuchs in for nothing. It’s a little bit like the way we got Harry Winks, making a player feel wanted and needed again can make all of the difference.
Our reasons for being more frugal in the summer of 2014 were pretty different to our position ten years on, but we should have at least one eye on the available free transfers this year while everybody else falls in love at first sight at the Euros and inevitably finds £50 million in a drawer at the training ground despite bemoaning the lack of money and financial restrictions (looking at you, Manchester City).
We’ll need to move quickly, several of the most attractive bargains have been signed already or are allegedly having medicals.
Across the big European leagues, not just the Premier League, there’s some fairly attractive names out of contract who look to be on the move. So, who should we target, who feels like a risk worth taking and who could we only dream of?
Slot them straight in
File these players under it makes sense for us and them. On paper they’d fit in well and it doesn’t feel too presumptuous to think that we could attract them. The only real question mark is whether our new manager, your guess is as good as ours on who that’ll be, would see them fitting. Or whether the new boss will get a say in matters.
With Dennis Praet out the door and Wout Faes hoping to put himself in the shop window at the Euros, our Belgian quota looks a little empty. Michy Batshuayi is seemingly out of the door at Fenerbahce and for a free transfer will have a few clubs interested. The striker had an interesting time in Turkey, he’ll likely be remembered the most for a spin-kick on a fan who’d invaded the pitch.
The rumour mill is putting Rangers as front runners for his signature but he could be a much cheaper alternative to Tammy Abraham who we’re supposed to be interested in. Batshuayi is 30 and this wouldn’t be his first time in the Premier League but you could see him working well with our two wingers.
After Alex Berenguer scored from a corner in the same week it was announced he’d be a free agent and he was linked with us, you can see why we were very much in the ‘sign him up now’ camp. The Athletic Club Bilbao winger would make a very handy addition to the first choice wingers and bolster that part of the squad. Now just the small matter of trying to make Leicester as attractive a city as Bilbao to move to. We’ve got…a clock tower. A King was buried here! The Guggenheim is still winning, isn’t it?
Callum O’Hare is the obvious choice after running down his Coventry contract. He could have slotted into the risk category given his injury record and needing to step up but based on how he played against us and his involvement for Coventry, he’s the closest to a James Maddison replacement we can get for free.
Anybody for a Dane born in Marbella? Robert Skov will leave Hoffenheim after five years and is alleged to want a new challenge. An experienced winger with a cracking left foot, he could be a good addition to our squad, some experience to help replace the likes of Marc Albrighton.
While adding some creativity into the team would be useful, we were equally concerned about our defensive situation when we assessed the squad. The market for centre backs out of contract and under 30 is tough, though. Lloyd Kelly would be a great fit but we’re unlikely to have the pull and money given the other clubs looking at him include Newcastle and Roma.
If we wanted to do some contingency planning, Paddy McNair is leaving Middlesbrough. At 29, he isn’t getting younger but has bags of experience and is used to playing a captain/leadership role. He’s not proven at the top level but he is used to the style of play we implemented this season.
Risky Business
While everybody is expecting Agent Cannon to be talking Sammie Szmodics up at the Republic of Ireland camp, there’s a number of players out of contract who could be good. If we can put some control around the wages we offer and contract length, they could be worth the risk or be good squad players.
What if we could be the club to rehabilitate Ryan Sessegnon? Tottenham have called it quits, which is a shame. He’ll get another contract but it’s a big gamble. There’s an excellent player if you can take the risk of only seeing it every so often. If he was wise, he’d look at our injury record and run a mile, we’re probably not the club to help him overcome it.
Che Adams: worth signing him if just to stop hearing his name followed by “was rejected by boyhood club, Leicester City” before he promptly scores against us. Is he Premier League quality? Unclear. And we’re not necessarily in a position to gamble on another striker until we’ve tied Jamie Vardy down.
Pape Gueye is set to leave Marseille, this fits the risk category primarily as controversy seems to follow him, between a suspension for how a previous transfer went and frustrating his current club by running down his contract. Still, if we do need another midfielder, he’s only 26 and we do love some shopping in France. Before this season and Ndidi’s transformation, he would have been an excellent candidate for a replacement.
If we are likely to look for young players to develop and build around, we could look at David Affengruber. The 22-year-old centre back just won the Austrian Bundesliga with Sturm Graz but they’re yet to secure his services for next season. It’s early days and Austria is very different to the Premier League. Plus Sturm Graz have the added advantage of Champions League qualifiers, but this ties nicely into the next bracket of players.
You musn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling
Ok, we left it too late to try and trick Kylian Mbappe into ending up at Leicester on a fraction of his wages, but there are some other names on the list that feel a little ambitious for us in our current state. But hey, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. Circumstance will play a big part.
Unless Kristiansen is back in favour, we could do with an actual left-back. Real Betis have released Juan Miranda and he’s relatively young, still 24. Putting him into this category because almost every other Premier League club appears to be interested and we’re probably already too late.
Luka Jovic had his pick of clubs in 2019 when he chose to leave Eintracht Frankfurt for Real Madrid. In hindsight, it was a disaster and he’s struggled to hit anywhere near the same heights since, being at three clubs in the last three years. AC Milan have been non-committal so far in whether they’d look to make his loan more permanent.
It feels like he needs the right club and the right manager to try and steer him. He’s still only 26 so he’s definitely an attractive prospect. Ok, it would be a long shot and he’d likely use us as a stepping stone to try and tempt a bigger move, but if you could get even three quarters of the player he was in Germany, you’d have a lot of fun. It feels the least realistic of the list but why not dream big.
We’d be competing with Enzo Maresca if we were to pursue Tosin Adarabioyo. At the time of writing, Chelsea seem to have a deal wrapped up. Tosin is to Fulham what Youri Tielemans was to us, never signing a new deal after the club had turned down the chance to make money off him the season before.
At just 26 years old, the centre back is likely to attract a lot of Premier League attention and we likely can’t, or shouldn’t be competing with the wages he’ll be able to get elsewhere.
Crystal Palace have an Oliver Glasner advantage in their pursuit of Daichi Kamada, the pair having worked together before. The 27-year-old has been released by Lazio and would be an excellent signing for any team to drop straight into their midfield.
