Leicester City should be able to compete in the Premier League and Europe due to their strong summer transfer window and the fact they have kept both Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez.
Has the soccer world learned nothing?
Just one week before the start of the Premier League season and already people have decided that Leicester City will fall into mid-table obscurity. It seems the world has decided that there is no way little Leicester City could ever contend again this season, but I wouldn’t be so quick to rule them out.
The foxes did lose one of their three break out stars, N’Golo Kante, to Chelsea. While this is a big loss their two other big stars, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, are still with the club. Vardy is definitely staying as he snubbed Arsenal in favor of a contract extension with the champions early in the summer. Mahrez could still leave before the transfer window is over but each day that goes by makes it less and less likely that he will leave King Power Stadium. If the foxes do manage to get Mahrez to stay they will be in a very good position to compete not only in the Premier League but also in the Champions League.
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The main reason that Leicester is in a good position for the upcoming season is that they run a simple system. Their success last year wasn’t because of a complicated system that teams have had a summer to try to dissect and breakdown. It’s not like they had a secret formula that no one could figure out. The played a compact 4-4-2 with the forwards pressing the opposing defense and the midfield and defense constantly looking to spring the forwards on the counterattack. It is a very simple system that they were able to run well enough that even though teams knew what was coming, they were not able to stop it.
The danger of Leicester City is that because their system brought them so much success, they don’t really have to rely on big names. It helped tremendously that they had incredible talent, but as long as they have players who can play the system well they should be able to compete in any competition. The worry for the foxes was that they thought they would lose all their star players and not be able to bring in new players that could play the system. Well not only does it look like they will manage to keep 2 of the 3 big name stars but they also were able to bring in very good fits for their system in the summer transfer window.
Leicester went into the transfer window searching for “replacements” (People that could play the same role in the 4-4-2 system) for Kante, Mahrez, and Vardy. Their three big signings were Nampalys Mendy, Ahmed Musa, and Luis Hernandez.
In place of the one star that left Leicester signed another Frenchmen, Nampalys Mendy, from Nice. The similarities between Mendy and Kante are striking. Both played in Ligue 1 before their arrival at Leicester. Both were 24 when they came to the Premier League. While Mendy’s stats in Ligue 1 weren’t quite as good as Kante’s they were nothing to scoff at for the price of €15.5 million. He looks set to take over the holding role in Leicester’s midfield and he has been praised for his work rate.
Ahmed Musa, their second signing, is a 23-year-old striker from CSKA Moscow. During his time in Moscow he had 125 domestic league appearances, 42 goals, and 14 assists. Those stats include 13 goals and 5 assists in 30 appearances last season. He also already has 3 seasons of experience in the Champions League (3 goals and 2 assists in 18 appearances) as CSKA Moscow has been in the group stages each of the past three years. He has blistering speed and has made Leicester a good first impression with Leicester fans as he scored a brace against Barcelona in the International Champions Cup.
The last big signing was Luis Hernandez, a defender from Sporting Gijon. While Leicester’s defense was very good last season, they were going to need reinforcements for the added number of games. Hernandez was very solid in the back for Gijon helping make sure they didn’t get relegated from La Liga. Also, he has some good pace for a central defender which is arguably the one thing Leicester City lacked in their title run.
In the case of Riyad Mahrez they actually already have a good replacement for him in Demarai Gray. The 20-year-old starlet had only 12 appearances last year, but has shown a lot of promise in a creative midfielder role. He looks set to get more time this year to develop into a starter and key player for the foxes.
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Since they were able to keep two of their three big stars and sign good players to fit their 4-4-2 system, Leicester City should not be dismissed in discussions for who will compete this season. They have a simple system that they are able to run very successfully, and as long as they keep doing that they should be able to compete in both the Premier League and the Champions League.