They don’t make footballers like this anymore: Thank you, Marc Albrighton
This weekend is going to be a party, a tribute and possibly a goodbye to a number of familiar faces. After ten years, it might be time to say goodbye to Marc Albrighton, a Leicester legend. This is an ode to the man from Tamworth.
This weekend’s game against Blackburn brings a close to this chaotic Championship season. Leicester City will be crowned Champions and lift the trophy. It's going to be one huge party and the match itself feels a bit of a footnote to the rest of the day. There's just so much more going on.
This may be the last time we see some familiar faces at the King Power, at least donning Leicester blue anyway. There's a lot of planned tributes for players whose contracts are due to run out in June, Union FS will unveil their biggest Tifo yet, largely in honour of Jamie Vardy. We’ve started to add our own tribute too should it be the end.
There'll be various odes to these players should they leave (yesterday we talked about Jannik Vestergaard) but I want to focus on one of the longest serving members on that list: Marc Albrighton.
We branded him Leicester's Mr Nice. But the Mr Men analogy works so well for him. He could be Mr Professional, Mr Reliable, Mr Versatile, Mr Shark, the list goes on. Vardy will steal most of the press and headlines whether he gets extended (it's happening, right?!) or not but Albrighton deserves his share of the focus too. They don't really make footballers like this anymore.
A Leicester Legend
Knowing where to start for Sharky is hard. I've long admired him and always felt assured watching him start or run out for Leicester City. Even with the injury concerns when we signed him (he’d been out of the picture at Villa for a while), it felt exciting. A fairly young, English winger who loved to run at his opposition and deliver excellent crosses into the box.
If football hadn't entirely moved on and wages weren't astronomical, there'd be a testimonial for Albrighton (and would have been for others too). This year marks ten at Leicester City and what a ten it's been. His Leicester legacy looks set to end but if it does, the man's essentially done it all. A real Leicester legend.
After this weekend, he'll be leaving as a Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield and now Championship title winner. He's notched 312 appearances (including substitute appearance), 13 goals and 48 assists. Is he the best free transfer we've ever had? In my lifetime he is.
He's been a mainstay over the rollercoaster of the last ten years and while his minutes have been limited this campaign, he's still played a part. Not least in being one of our leaders. It'll be strange not to have him around the club anymore, unable to just whip him off the bench if we just need somebody to put in a shift for a few minutes.
Albrighton was signed by Nigel Pearson from Aston Villa in May 2014, although we didn't actually see a lot of him at first for reasons unknown to all except Big Nige. Still, when Albrighton did get back into the side, it coincided with our great escape, he played more as a wingback then.
A little bit like Harry Winks this season, we were the club who showed we wanted him after he felt a little outcast and that seems to generate a little something extra from a player. If I asked a thousandLeicester fans to describe the winger in one word I think hard-working or the various similes would appear pretty regularly. Can we pretend cross-machine is one word too, that feels pretty apt.
In his second season under Claudio Ranieri, he played every league game of our title winning 2015/16 campaign, returning to his favoured left wing position. It's ironic that a lot of us remember his connection with Vardy from that season, and as Stephy Mavididi commented when the two combined for a goal this season, that it was a cheat code.
15/16 cheat code 😍😍😍 https://t.co/z5bYfLMmWn
— Stephy Alvaro Mavididi (@TheRealMavididi) January 27, 2024
However, Albrighton only actually assisted onegoals that season for Vardy. That assist coming in the opening day of the season. Sounds wrong doesn’t it? Funny what memory does to us over time. Most of his other assists went to goals for the likes of Mahrez. However, he was instrumental throughout.
The Winks comparison works again when you consider the impact and importance versus the credit they received. Winks made surprisingly few people's lists for player of the year, less so again outside of Leicester media. In our title winning season, Albrighton could have, probably should have at least got one cap for England but was left out in the cold.
It was a little surprising that he's only got 48 assists across the ten years. In my head he's a lot more of an assist machine than that. Reliving his best moments, he was so often the one assisting the actual assist. Or part of the build up play to a goal. Maybe that's why all of us remember his partnership with Vardy in a different way.
Trying to pick a favourite cross or assist is tricky. I narrowed it down to the one that led to that Mahrez goal against Chelsea (I could watch this whole thing on a loop for hours and be incredibly content).
Albrighton’s propensity to run and cross the ball into the box, or deliver a set piece may not have always led directly to goals but watching some videos back shows the chaos he often created, even if he then couldn't claim the credit.
Knowing Albrighton though, the statistics probably don't bother him at all, he has always been appreciated and much loved by his players and managers. A consummate team player.
Consider as well that during his peak Foxes years, it was Riyad Mahrez on the other wing. A literal football magician who is the most talented player we have ever seen at our club. He is the polar opposite of Albrighton in some ways yet perhaps that's why having them on opposite wings worked so well.
Cue the Champions League music
The overwhelming Albrighton memories from his time with us both came from the Champions League. He will remain cemented in history as Leicester City’s first ever goalscorer in the competition. My main memory being that he had no idea how to celebrate it, such was his surprise and excitement. That was a special moment for us all. Without knowing how much more special it would all become!
You often associate one or two players with a particular kit and the white, pinstriped away kit from that year is the one I'll associate Sharky with forever (I still have that kit with his name on it). The image of his goal celebration is still seared in my memory.
The other one, that I suspect most would choose is that goal, and commentary, against Sevilla in the Champions League which gave us the 3-2 win on aggregate and secured a quarter final spot.
It was a great goal too, the way he brought it down and then just smashed it in. I don’t remember how many limbs I banged in the celebrations, just how incredibly emotional it all felt. There couldn’t have been a nicer bloke to get that winning goal.
The other thing that stands out from the ten years, is that never has Albrighton pulled on a Leicester shirt and not given 100% effort and commitment. He's the type of footballer who will work, work and then run himself into the ground that little bit more again. What he lacks in pace, he more than makes up for elsewhere.
He's been versatile over his time at Leicester City, playing on both sides of the wing and wing back when needed and never complaining. In these later years we haven't been always able to play him for ninety minutes back to back, but he's been an important squad player.
It's not always been smooth sailing for the Tamworth man though. While most Leicester City fans now love and appreciate him, he has been a scapegoat in the past, or drawn criticism. Famously a guy behind me at the KP has loved to mock the way he crosses in and takes his set pieces. Too much loft, not enough speed and precision. Some of this is to rile up the Albrighton stalwarts like me. Lord knows I find it really difficult to ever be mad at footballers who try really hard even if they don't always succeed.
Some of that frustration is probably because he might not be the most technically gifted player (though I’d argue he’s underrated), or the one who'll pull off the spectacular but any winning side needs a player or two like him. Somebody who can contribute to the attack, via lovely assists, but also willingly does the grittier stuff and has the tenacity to consistently chase down the ball.
Albrighton slots into the James Milner category of a more old school footballer for me that is worth more than their estimated value. You don't get many like him anymore. He's not quite a one club man but he's come close, the vast majority of his career thus far coming between years spent with us and his start at Aston Villa.
Perhaps this isn't important to all fans, but Albrighton is also one of the good guys of the sport. He's just a football loving, down to earth guy. Always friendly and approachable, even when you accidentally insult his height (that's a tale for another day but I still feel awful and it was 7 years ago). Somebody that understands the importance of fan connection.
Unlike Vardy, it doesn't feel like there's a debate about keeping him, not unless it was some sort of coaching combined role. Whereas Vardy seems to show none of his age, Albrighton has started to a little more. Which makes an argument for extending him now that we are promoted tough. Coupled with the need to save money and it seems unlikely. He'd made an excellent squad signing though for another EFL team if he wanted that.
Whatever his future holds, he'll be a name we will still fondly look out for and whatever his return to the King Power is, he's assured of a brilliant reception. All together now, Marc Albrighton, Marc Albrighton…
