On the future of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall: Head versus heart
We’re entering the period of transfer rumour madness and Leicester City should be busy, whether it’s renewing contracts, selling players or bringing new faces in. The rumours around Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall started back in January and aren’t likely to quiet down anytime soon. Should we look to sell or is keeping him a no-brainer? It's a head versus heart debate for Helen Thompson.
If, like me, you or your partner enjoy a bit of Football Manager and aren't managing your own beloved team, it's nice to check in on them from time to time and see whether they’re prospering, in total ruin or which ex-footballer has taken the step into management.
In my husband's game, it's the year 2032 and David Moyes is at the helm for Leicester City. The Foxes are 12th in the Premier League but why are we on this FM tangent you ask? Our club captain on the save is Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. Our vice-captain is James Maddison so clearly this is in the alternative universe where that tweet and relegation didn’t happen, but still.
This game is playing out a reality I would love to see come to pass. Well, maybe not Moyes driving the boat but the captaincy part for our local boy.
It would have been no shock that my nomination for Player of the Year was Dewsbury-Hall. I've been on the KDH hype train all season and I'm not hopping off it yet. It wasn’t just his on field output this year, although his goals and assists were incredibly healthy. It’s his attitude and dare I say it, I really like having a core of our team being homegrown and from the academy.
The rumours have been flying about a possible sale of KDH since January when our financial plight started to be properly unearthed and a need for cash became apparent. With his 12 goals and 14 assists, he’s still only 25 years old too, it’s not a surprise he’s near the top of the sell list.
There’s a real head versus heart argument going on for me around whether we should entertain offers for one of our key men, or ensure he’s still one of the core players for next season.
The Head: Every player has a price (and a replacement)
The head has to look at this rationally and from a business point of view. Much as we don’t like to admit that, it’s very much how the club will be taking stock and evaluating Dewsbury-Hall. They almost have to put aside any emotion and think of the big picture.
Every player has a price tag and no player is bigger than a club. I’m not naive enough to think that even if Maresca is saying ‘don’t sell’ and the club don’t really want to either, that a rather generous offer couldn’t intrigue them. That would entice a lot of clubs in a world without existing PSR issues, whereas we already have them, making it all a little more tempting again.
Promotion will have alleviated some of the more pressing financial concerns but it isn’t an instant hail mary either as we dissected already here and here. If the rumours are true, to avoid further punishment we need to have shifted a not insignificant amount of £60-something million by June to avoid breaking further sustainability rules.
That seems unlikely for two reasons, the size of the amount and the inflexibility of the timing. The transfer window isn’t open yet for us to make sales. Unless there’s pre-deal wizardry that can take place. Chipping £30-40 million off still wouldn’t hurt though.
If we do need to generate some cash then you’re looking at our most attractive assets and Dewsbury-Hall is one of them, if not top of the list. It’d be hard to imagine us parting with Mads Hermansen, one of the other likely desirable assets, unless we were offered very silly money which is unlikely this summer. Line that up on the bingo cards for June 2025.
Brighton are the more likely candidates having been linked to Dewsbury-Hall back in January but Manchester United and Tottenham are being linked too. The figure bouncing around at that point was for £30 million. Presumably after his season and our promotion, we can add a few million onto it. Regardless, it won't fix our entire PSR and PPR challenges, but it would be a lump off.
He’s not irreplaceable either despite how instrumental he's been, no player is. With the way that Maresca sets up and each position or role having a very clear set of instructions and remits. In theory, you can slot the right player in and that doesn’t have to be KDH.
This season when he’s not been available, or rested, we’ve had a few different faces stepping in. Dennis Praet, although he is leaving on a free. Yunus Akgun, who we don’t own but may (TFW predictions are split on his future too).
While the forums are buzzing over Jake Evans, he’s still only 16 years old and Maresca is likely to demand a more experienced replacement. We’d likely need a replacement in that position, thus begins the debate of can we then bring somebody in who is equal to, or better than KDH, for less money so as to ensure we’re still netting a tidy profit. If the sale is purely for the money, the replacement question can’t be overlooked.
Leicester have done well before in smaller markets, taking the low cost risks. There are also free agents with Premier League ambitions in the shape of Callum O’Hare. Leicester have options that could ensure most of the money stays with us.
My head knows all of this and yet, I find myself wanting to cast it all out and say surely we should be trying to keep him and bolster the position.
The Heart: Potential and Leadership
I probably am led more by my heart than head when it comes to football. I get attached to players where my head knows it isn’t wise and it means any event hits harder emotionally before the pragmatism sets in. I think it’s what makes my love for the game and Leicester stronger. It lends itself to fairly frequent sadness too.
My heart says that unless a club is going to Harry Maguire us, Manchester United style, and offer an insane transfer fee, that we shouldn’t entertain selling him. He’s been a mainstay in the side and a lot of times, a beating heart whose own heart is very firmly working for Leicester City.
His local connection, the fact he’s been with us since an incredibly young age…you can bring in the best players around but you can’t just implant that love for the team and the desire to work for them.
I'm also just excited to see what could be if he stays. This is a more mature Dewsbury-Hall who is confident, working with a manager that seems to be improving him and putting up his best numbers yet. He isn't the only one in the squad coming back to the top level with a point to prove, but he has that extra hunger that comes from pride in playing for your club.
Captaincy seems like a prospect too. It's not just end product where Dewsbury-Hall has stepped up. There's been a lot of signs of leadership, responsibility. His response to the relegation and approaching not only this season, but his own forn. It's impressed. Hamza Choudhury may have taken the arm band first, but you feel this is all still part of learning for our midfielder.
There’s also something that feels wrong about trying to shill out a guy who has said frequently that he doesn’t want to go anywhere. It all feels a little too similar to Matt Piper, a player who wanted nothing more than to stay but it wasn't his choice and finances dictated.
Dewsbury-Hall didn’t have to come out in January and state the Brighton rumours were nothing to do with him and that he had not asked to leave, nor wanted to. His response to winning Player of the Year? A very firm, public statement of his intention to stay here.
How often does a player so vocally talk about wanting to stay? It’s not something to be taken for granted, it's really refreshing too. It’s the type of statement and passion you can only dream of as a fan.
If the head was in charge of this section, it would argue that sentimentality has no place but given we're focusing on the heart, I can appeal to how great it is to see somebody progress across the course of their career and see if they can take the next step again.
Which wins out?
Probably no spoiler to say it's the heart. I'm here to call for at least one more year. Let us build on the team and tactics with Maresca before we start disassembling it. Lining up in the Premier League with at least three to four academy graduates in our match day squad? Yes please.
Dewsbury-Hall is part of the group who can inspire the next set too. He speaks so highly of what Andy King did for him and it's his turn now.
