Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
After a small hiatus, due to the fact I forgot to ask if anyone had any questions and also I haven’t had the time over the past few weeks it’s time for the return of ‘Ask Real Football Man’ – This week sees two questions along similar lines and they were asked by Pavan Gopinath and Pranesh Krishnamurthy who are long time contributors to the website http://www.thefootballmind.com/
They ask “What are the 3 things you can see changing with Leicester (for the next season) when they win the league this season?”
- The calibre of player they will be able to attract will increase massively over the Summer as now not only are they set to be Champions of the Premier League but that also brings the added prize of Champions League Football this season. (More on this below)
- They spotlight if not on them already will be even greater next season there will be so much more scrutiny on Claudio Ranieri’s side. The big challenge will be trying to make sure there is no change in terms of player egos and squad harmony. That was been a key element in them almost winning the title, the last thing they want to do is create an unbalance in squad and undo all their hard work this season
- It’s hard to win a Premier League title but it’s even harder to defend it, being Champions will bring its own pressures and that coupled with European Football it will be interesting to see whether they can replicate this performances next season as everyone else will be aiming to take the scalp of the Champions. Therefore we may see a change in the level and quality and performance of The Foxes – the bigger question will be where we Leicester finish in the 201/17 campaign
and also “Do you think with Champions League Football on offer Leicester will be able to attract some top quality players?? Will players still find teams like United , Liverpool and Chelsea more attractive?? (as many will assume the foxes to be a one season miracle)”
Of course with the added selling point of Champions League Football on offer then Leicester will certainly move up the queue in terms of buying players in the Summer. When you add to the package of playing for the Champions and also the money that will be able to be paid thanks to the new TV deal in the Summer then I can see quite the queue of players looking to move to The King Power.
But I still believe they are way off attracting top tier names or even second tier names for that matter, but that’s not to the detriment to the club in fairness it will probably work in their favour. If they start buying players who demand big wages and have even bigger egos then that will undoubtedly ruin the balance of the team and make their chances of repeating success much harder.
Players will still find a move to a perceived big club or even big city for that matter a more attractive prospect, so don’t expect Robert Lewandowski to be coming to The King Power all of a sudden but I would imagine there will still be a fair bit of business at Leicester this Summer. I think the bigger issue is not who the buy but who can they hold on to.
Can they hold on to players such Mahrez, Vardy and Kante for example. If they can and then supplement the squad with some experienced players for their Champions League campaign then who knows what might happen but if those key men do leave then it’s going to be very hard to replicate this fantastic season.
That concludes Issue 6 of “Ask Real Football Man” if anyone has any questions for next week then please leave them in the comments below or e-mail me at realfootballmanwordpress@gmail.com
