Local writer asks ... Are Leicester City FC at a crossroads?

By Sanjni Gohil

Monday 3 October 2022. King Power Stadium. Leicester v Nottingham Forest. Leicester are still winless in the new Premier League season and sit rock bottom. It is the 73rd minute and Patson Daka’s deft flick caps off a sparkling performance as Leicester record their first league win of the season 4-0.

Leicester have since gone on to move into mid-table this season. For a team that has enjoyed great success in recent years, regularly qualifying for Europe and winning the FA Cup in 2021 and Premier League in 2014, Leicester’s perilous start to the season has focused minds. Have Leicester begun to lose their touch? A number of factors may explain their predicament.

Recruitment

Leicester have found recent success in recruiting promising young talent relatively cheaply who have gone on to perform at a high level, such as Kante, Mahrez and recently Tielemens and Ndidi. This has allowed them to be competitive with teams with greater financial strength in the league. Recently however, the quality of recruitment has not been up to the same standard. In the 2021/2022 season, the club invested over £50 million in new signings including Daka, Soumare and Vestergaard, none of whom have performed consistently to become regular starters. In the current season the club only purchased a single player, Faes, who has scored an unfortunate two own goals recently against Liverpool in December 2022.

Finances

Whilst the pandemic hit Leicester’s owners King Power as an international duty-free business, Leicester City remain in a financially robust position . Why then did the club not spend any money in the Summer 2022 transfer window until 1 September 2022? First, a number of players, either not regulars or injured are on high wages and require moving on to free up space on the wage bill. This includes Söyüncü, Choudhury, Vestergaard and Praet. Second, the club has invested over £100 million into a new training ground complex. This is a long term approach which the owners will hope will allow them to develop high quality first team players from their own academy. New infrastructure clearly doesn’t come cheaply, and it also comes at the expense of funds into upgrading the squad.

As Leicester begin to renew their squad this Summer, they stand at a crossroads. Do they continue to invest in promising young players, more experienced players on higher wages or continue their investment into club infrastructure like they did with the training ground? As a club statement noted in August, “To continue competing in the Premier League…..requires a disciplined, sustainable and innovative business model…” . Time will tell what this means in practice and whether it can propel back Leicester to good times….