The Week in Leicester: New York, New York - so good, we’ve been there twice already
It’s been one of the quieter weeks in Leicester City’s recent history, but there was still time for some dramatic statements, Turkish delight and a Nigerian journalist to get very excited about using their new thesaurus.
The good
Perhaps it says something about Leicester City fandom that we agonised over what to include here.
Leicester City are sitting on a 100% record this season, are joint top of the Championship, and recently served up a dish of ice cold revenge on Burton Albion, reclaiming the Unofficial Bass Charity Vase title in the process. And yet the prospect of something good to talk about had the halls of TFW Towers echoing with the sound of silence.
So instead let’s give a shout out to two fantastic bits of #Content from Radio Leicester. A dive into Enzoball with friend of the show, Dominic Wells, and a chat with the manager himself.
JK
The bad
Quick quiz if you haven’t seen this quote already - who said this, and when?
"This would be a big mistake if the fans think, if the club think, or if we think that everything is fine."
Nope, it wasn’t James Maddison after the Southampton game last season but good guess. It was Enzo Maresca this week following Leicester’s fourth win out of four. But he’s right, isn’t he? There’s still a lot of work to do, most pressingly in the transfer market, and only a week left to do it in. Thankfully, our Director of Football is currently right at the top of his game and sure to have it all in hand.
Speaking of which, despite seemingly having very few options in some key positions, we still have too many players for the 25-man squad. The Leicester Mercury’s Jordan Blackwell says it’s 27 for 25 spots as loanees don’t count on the Under-21 list and losing Victor Kristiansen, who’s set to join Bologna, is irrelevant as he didn’t actually count towards the 25 anyway.
The club has also reinforced its relationship with gambling money, continuing their partnership with a totally legit Gibraltar-based operator. But I’ve already made my feelings clear about this kind of thing.
DB
The daft
To paraphrase my whatever-you-call-a-tweet-these-days earlier this week, I get the feeling in ten years I’ll still be watching YouTube videos of left-footed right-wingers Leicester want to sign on loan with an option to buy.
The latest one manages to combine being a Cengiz Under regen with a Tete link - we’ll probably soon discover he’s distantly related to Rachid Ghezzal. Yes, it’s Yunus Akgün, who prepared for his apparently imminent move to the Championship by starting in a Champions League game on Wednesday.
Not only that but he was one of Galatasaray’s most impressive performers in a late 3-2 win at Molde, scoring a brilliant disallowed goal, setting up a legit goal (a magnificent finish by Mauro Icardi) and getting fouled for the free kick that provided another goal. Okay so he didn’t track the runner for Molde’s equaliser but you can’t have it all. He was then subbed off for everyone’s favourite Brazilian ex-Leicester man.
Depending on which of the Turkish media you trust, Yunus has either said goodbye to his Galatasaray team-mates already or the whole thing’s off. Standard.
LATE ADDITION: Maybe the former?
In calamitous-ex-Leicester-manager-news part one, Peter Taylor has been dramatically AXED by both Maldon AND Tiptree after what appears to be one league game.
In calamitous-ex-Leicester-manager-news part two (he won us the FA Cup don’t you know), Brendan’s Celtic reunion is not exactly off to the best start after they were dumped, presumably unceremoniously, out of the Viaplay Cup by someone that isn’t Rangers. And he’s already listing absentees like names of the fallen.
Congratulations are in order to the LCFC whatever-you-call-a-tweet-these-days ad sales manager, who’s successfully convinced “your innovative deconstruction and demolition specialist contractor” to sponsor Leicester City in 2023. Synergy.
Finally, over in Nigeria, Wilfred Ndidi’s performance against Cardiff had one enterprising journalist flicking through their thesaurus.
DB
Hot goss
Danish friendship ended with Victor Kristiansen.
Now Abdul Fatawu Issahaku is my best friend? Or perhaps Brian Aguirre?
The big scary rumour of the week is the prospect of Crystal Palace making a late swoop for Kelechi Iheanacho. But only if they can flog Jean-Philippe Mateta* to Red Bull, Inc. first. Current Leicester target Jes Rak-Sakyi is ahead of Mateta in their pecking order and actually played for Palace on Monday, which doesn’t bode well at all.
That’s not the only bad news featuring a Nigerian star. Iheanacho’s compatriot Ndidi’s short-lived Bayern dream is over.
Tedious Timmy’s Thames Tease rumbles on, as Castagne’s inevitable move to Fulham grinds towards a conclusion. While another exile heads toward an conscious decoupling as Patson Daka continues to flirt with Monaco.
And, of course, hell will freeze over before a week passes without a link to someone associated with Manchester City or Burnley. This week, it’s Josh Brownhill.
*No, he hasn’t scored since.
JK
Thing we learned
Not so much us as the club, which excitedly whatever-you-call-tweeted-these-days about our first ever trip to the New York Stadium this weekend, only for several pedants to point out we’ve played there twice before in pre-season games.
DB
One last thing
On Thursday, Leicester fans erupted on whatever-you-call-Twitter-these-days after a suggestion that Jamie Vardy is “overstaying his welcome”.
This is LCFC Family’s second appearance in the TWIL, after previously making The Daft for stating Filbert wasn’t doing enough to earn his wage.
Luckily, we’d already packed out The Daft section this week. But make it a hat-trick of TWIL appearances in a third new section and he wins a £10 book token. Over to you, Mr Family…
DB
NOW READ:
10 words to describe how I’ve felt watching Leicester City so far this season
VK All Day: Why there’s still a place for Victor Krist… what’s that? Oh, never mind…