Transfer Strategy

[Rob1742]

Just wondering whether it’s a coincidence or a well thought out plan. I actually think it’s a bit of a clever plan by our management.

 

1. We sign a Luton right back for £10m, when we clearly don’t need that level of cover when we had Simpson and Amartey

 

2. We buy Praet when we clearly have enough with Ayoze and Maddison.

 

My point is, are we buying in advance, knowing we are going to lose the likes of Ricardo and Maddison a year down the line?  So rather than replace them at the time, we bring in a replacement a year early so we don’t get held to ransom once other teams see our income.

 

Another example was we were looking at a centre back as cover for Maguire and we brought in both Benkovic and Soyuncu. Both big money buys, which were never going to oust Maguire.

 

Our owners are clever folk, and to me it looks like we get a replacement for the outgoings a year in advance, which saves us money and also gets the player used to the environment.

 

 

 

 

[yorkie1999]

Or, we're trying to create strength in depth if we get to Europe, and if we don't, we've still got players whose value will be higher than we paid for them.

[urban.spaceman]

We're definitely buying much smarter than ever before. The last two windows have been ****ing excellent IMO - the only downsides is perhaps the prices paid for Ghezzal and maybe Ward - though the latter has certainly been a good backup and proved himself in the cups. 

 

We seem to have accepted that losing one of our big name players per window is sort of inevitable regardless of how well we do - we've proved with Mahrez, Drinkwatrer and especially Maguire that we won't be bullied on price or other time of sale and the players that remain should be aware of this now. The next big player to leave - Chilwell, Soyuncu, Ricardo, Maddison, Tielemans - will not go for anything less than £80m each in this market and I'm not even joking. 

 

As a consequence we're developing a much stronger squad over time, especially by buying quality young replacements a year or two ahead as well as developing our own youth too.

 

Pearson returning really was the catalyst for this strategy which has developed behind the scenes regardless of who's the head coach. Rodgers seems to have embraced this philosophy too and it's paying off dividends at the minute.

 

Next summer will be nervy though, depending on what we achieve this season.

 

Will we keep everyone this time?
 

Who will be the one big player who leaves?

 

Can we trust Rodgers/Congerton with the resulting income?

 

I'd like to say yes. I can certainly trust our scouts and recruitment team to keep up the brilliant work.

[egg_fried_rice]

I think you are right in that we are planning ahead, but you've got it a bit wrong in your post.

 

We already knew Simpson was leaving and Amartey was coming back from a serious injury and may never have made the grade for our ambitious project. We absolutely did the need the cover.

 

Perez, Maddison and Praet all play in different positions and add much needed competition and quality. I would actually argue that none of them have direct replacements in the squad, although you could say James for Praet if you were feeling generous.

[Guest Cujek]

Cags and Benko were not big money buys they were average prices for promosing foreign centre backs, they are also both very young for centre backs and and it was possibly deemed they needed another experienced defender to go alongside Evans, it also could have been a smokescreen for us to say we were looking to replace Maguire with another defender whilst we actually looked at other targets, the prices being quoted for the players we were looking at was insane (Ake 70m)

 

JJ for 10 million, is a squad player price, we also do need him as back up as Simpson was done here and Amartey is all but done (thank you both for your service). 

 

You are forgetting that even a squad player for a prem team is 10 - 15 million a first teamer is 25 plus now. 

 

Praet is defo needed he offers something else. 

 

The only thing we miss is a plan b in striker form, it is clear Nacho is not good enough at what we want him to do. 

 

Can you imagine though spending 40 - 60 on a striker and have Vards play out of skin and keep him out the team. 

 

Vardy is our blessing and our curse, the problem that we will over the coming seasons will be how to phase him out should his performances start to drop (not showing any sign atm) but how do you replace the irreplaceable? 

 

Vardy came in a time where he was enabled a good long run in the side to bed in, when he struggled he had uncle Nigel to sort him out, can you imagine if we gave up on him and he left, would we be where we are today?

 

But on the other hand, no one is going to come in and take Vardys place in the team and someone capable of replacing him is not going to want to sit on the bench and we are going to have to replace him at some point. 

 

I am all for increasing the overall average quality of the squad. 

[StriderHiryu]

I think it's a bit of both.

 

Our club has learned to play the market, which all clubs other than a very small number of clubs need to do. Look at Dortmund rinsing Chelsea for 60m for Pulisic and having Sancho ready to go. They know they can sell Sancho for 100m this season if they want to, but instead they signed two players (Brandt and Thorgan Hazard) who will be given a year to adapt before they inevitably sell Sancho to Man United. 

 

For Leicester, I don't think we are a selling club, but sometimes a deal is too good to pass down. The Maguire deal was textbook fleecing, as whilst he is a good player, we've ended up with a 50m profit and still have Soyuncu who looks equally as good and could be sold for a large fee already. Other clubs are going to be interested in our players and I would be surprised if one player doesn't go for another astronomical fee at the end of the season.

 

But as others have said, the ideal situation is we don't sell anyone and instead build a great squad that can compete on multiple fronts. So f we get to Europe, we are already better prepared than say Wolves or Burnley were.

 

[sm1]

This could be a real pivotal season for us. If we live up to the hype and finish 3rd or 4th, would our young players want to leave for the likes of Utd. I generally believe that only Man City & Liverpool are a step up for our players and they won't pay the prices we want. 

[Xen]

If we get into Europe next season, we'll need those players as extra depth. The players we have are more likely to want to stay, and we'll be able to bring in new faces with the funds we raised from the Maguire sale.

 

If we don't get into Europe next season there's a chance we'll end up selling one or two of our better players (likely, Pereira). In that case, we'll have ready-made replacements waiting for their chance, just as we did with Maguire and Soyuncu/Benkovic. We'll then be able to reassess and use our transfer window trying to make genuine improvements rather than repairing holes left by outgoing players.

 

It's a smart plan and it seems to be working well so far. Long may it continue.

 

After a shaky start, Rudkin has really stepped up his game and the recruitment at the club is currently performing admirably.

[Lambert09]

Partly right, Soyuncu and Benkovic were both bought around the time clubs were sniffing around maguire. Its almost certain they were bought with an expectation we may have to let him go at some point.  

 

As others have mentioned though, the rest of the players youve listed are needed to make the squad competitive. We were crying out for Praet or a similar player and our fans seemed to not be able to see it. Madison and YT were the only creative midfielders in the side and an injury or a ban could have been devastating without someone like him to step in. I had lots of people tell me in the Praet transfer thread that Hamza would be cover, I think now more people understand what I said then... that he's not a creative player. 

 

Successful teams have 2 players for every position, something that weve lacked at this club for a while with players that simply arent good enough. With the exception of Vardy, I think we could have any player being out on a matchday and still play at a top level. 

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

We’ve certainly smartened up our recruitment, planning for the future buying younger players whose value will only increase, we were very hit and miss before Kante and Mahrez being more the exception than the rule, we went through a period of being very wasteful and squandering huge amounts of cash on older players that haven’t quite fitted in, lately though our dealings have been very impressive.

[Blue ROI]

We learned a lot from the 2016 debacle.

 

It served us well going from players in the championship/lower premier league in the first half of the decade but we neglected that approach going overseas for Musa, Hernandez, Slimani etc. Even Gray and Amartey from January was a taste of things to come. 

 

Sevilla away really showed how lost we were without what Pearson brought to the club. It was sad to watch the battering in that first half. Showed how things had gone badly wrong.

 

Since then we've gone back to basics somewhat with Maguire,Maddison,Justin, Evans etc. Picked up a few gems from abroad. It was about 50% good in 2017 but has increased in a big way since 2018. 

 

The Mahrez saga might have helped us also. We were a bit one dimensional as a lot centered on him doing something. Plus he made it clear after Atletico Madrid that he wanted out. It threw down the gauntlet to the club. His loss hasn't been directly replaced but we're so much stronger in so many other positions now. 

 

You can't but be impressed with our depth now. We have squad players who would likely be regulars on other PL sides. 

 

Who knows where we will be at the end of the season but it's all but certain this isn't a House of Cards a la Peter Taylor 2000 that comes crashing down later on. 

[VLC86]

Just stockpiling because Rudders is a fcking maniac imo.

[Swiss_tony]

We should get in early for Ferguson from  West Brom for when fuchs retires. He looks like he's gonna be a heck of a left back, and can push Chilwell.

[UniFox21]

1 minute ago, Swiss_tony said:

We should get in early for Ferguson from  West Brom for when fuchs retires. He looks like he's gonna be a heck of a left back, and can push Chilwell.

We have a great LB coming up from the academy who looks like he'll be a brilliant player, Luke Thomas i believe. He's captain of the England age group he's in too. 

[CosbehFox]

Can we sign Olmo from Zagreb 

[yorkie1999]

6 hours ago, Cujek said:

Cags and Benko were not big money buys they were average prices for promosing foreign centre backs, they are also both very young for centre backs and and it was possibly deemed they needed another experienced defender to go alongside Evans, it also could have been a smokescreen for us to say we were looking to replace Maguire with another defender whilst we actually looked at other targets, the prices being quoted for the players we were looking at was insane (Ake 70m)

 

JJ for 10 million, is a squad player price, we also do need him as back up as Simpson was done here and Amartey is all but done (thank you both for your service). 

 

You are forgetting that even a squad player for a prem team is 10 - 15 million a first teamer is 25 plus now. 

 

Praet is defo needed he offers something else. 

 

The only thing we miss is a plan b in striker form, it is clear Nacho is not good enough at what we want him to do. 

 

Can you imagine though spending 40 - 60 on a striker and have Vards play out of skin and keep him out the team. 

 

Vardy is our blessing and our curse, the problem that we will over the coming seasons will be how to phase him out should his performances start to drop (not showing any sign atm) but how do you replace the irreplaceable? 

 

Vardy came in a time where he was enabled a good long run in the side to bed in, when he struggled he had uncle Nigel to sort him out, can you imagine if we gave up on him and he left, would we be where we are today?

 

But on the other hand, no one is going to come in and take Vardys place in the team and someone capable of replacing him is not going to want to sit on the bench and we are going to have to replace him at some point. 

 

I am all for increasing the overall average quality of the squad. 

We need to get nacho man playing in games we look like winning with 15 minutes to go.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

The OP is basically talking about succession planning and yes Leicester looked to be very well switched on in this regard, replacing Maguire last summer before he left being the best example.

 

This very thing boils my piss at Celtic as we seem to be the opposite and completely reactionary when we are relatively in the same boat as yourselves, expected to make a big sale of one of our best players most summers.

[Les-TA-Jon]

The main challenge is next summer - regardless of how we do this season. In previous years we've had one big name first team player going, almost after a gentleman's agreement based on previous interest. But there was only ever one player that fit the bill of 1) doing well for us 2) having received concrete interest from other clubs 3) having been here for a couple of years. 

 

Next summer that applies to 

 

Chilwell

Maddison

Ricardo

Ndidi

[Blue ROI]

1 hour ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

The main challenge is next summer - regardless of how we do this season. In previous years we've had one big name first team player going, almost after a gentleman's agreement based on previous interest. But there was only ever one player that fit the bill of 1) doing well for us 2) having received concrete interest from other clubs 3) having been here for a couple of years. 

 

Next summer that applies to 

 

Chilwell

Maddison

Ricardo

Ndidi

Theres at least 1 of those going alright. Soyuncu is in the frame also.

 

No way half a dozen or so will be leaving on one season especially if we get Europe.

 

Man city liverpool is a no brainer for a player. But arsenal isn't the attractive destination it once was since Vardy turned them down.chelsea could be 50/50 depending where they finish. Spurs wont push the wages out.

 

Other than Ricardo and Juve interest we don't have much threat from abroad as of yet. Only about 7 clubs can match the top 6 in england on terms of finance. Unlikely Barca or Real will be bidding for our players next summer.

 

If we can make Europe we are holding a very strong hand.

[whoareyaaa]

23 hours ago, sm1 said:

This could be a real pivotal season for us. If we live up to the hype and finish 3rd or 4th, would our young players want to leave for the likes of Utd. I generally believe that only Man City & Liverpool are a step up for our players and they won't pay the prices we want. 

If we make the champions league then i'm sure all the players will want to stay, however if we don't I'd imagine 1 will go for a big fee. win win

[Stadt]

Spunk £60m on Erling Håland at the ned of the season and tell him that it'll take a season or two to be the main man but you'll be a legend here. Plus we'll give you 150 bags a week ya big viking bastard

Edited 2 October 2019 by Stadt

[jeffschlupp]

On 01/10/2019 at 14:41, Rob1742 said:

1. We sign a Luton right back for £10m, when we clearly don’t need that level of cover when we had Simpson and Amartey

 

2. We buy Praet when we clearly have enough with Ayoze and Maddison.

 

 

 

 

1. Simpson told the club he wanted to leave because he wanted to be first choice elsewhere. Amartey can't train properly due to continued effects from the ankle injury, and hasn't played a single minute of competitive football in the last 11 months. 

 

2. Ayoze is a winger or striker, so how on earth does that make him competition for a no.8 midfielder in a 4-3-3? We clearly didn't have enough with just Maddison and Tielemans, as shown by Maddison getting injured against Spurs. We'd have to have played Mendy or Choudhury with Ndidi, or changed the system that everyone knows suits our players best, if we didn't have Praet.

 

Why can't people just accept that a Premier League season of 38 games plus two cup competitions demands more than just 11 players?

[Chrysalis]

Our policy is to sell for profit from any time of year 3 onwards in contract, so yes buying replacements ahead of time would fit in with that.  As the replacements by the time they needed wil have already been training at the club and know our way of playing.

[Guest Cujek]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

Spunk £60m on Erling Håland at the ned of the season and tell him that it'll take a season or two to be the main man but you'll be a legend here. Plus we'll give you 150 bags a week ya big viking bastard

And a flat in St Matthews, and a tour round the market to see Linekers store and an annual pass to the King Richard exhibition 

 

Anything it takes

[The Guvnor]

Spurs seem to be in all sorts of trouble lets spend the Maguire money on Son, we need another quality striker, give him a lifeline from the sinking ship.

Edited 5 October 2019 by The Guvnor