Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
You don’t rebuild the KING POWER TOWER, ... you fortify it
LEICESTER have made a tentative start since the Premier League resumption but are still within sight of another stunning achievement at the King Power.
Four years after they won the title as 5,000-1 no-hopers, Brendan Rodgers is six games from potentially leading them back into the Champions League.
And as a former Leicester player, it makes my blood boil when I hear people asking if the Foxes need to
“rebuild” next season.
Pardon me? Rebuild what exactly?
Had you told any Leicester fan five years ago that they would win the title, reach the Champions League quarterfinals the following season and enjoy another top-four finish three years later, they would have thought you were away with the fairies.
After all, it’s only 11 years ago that Nigel Pearson led them to promotion from League One, where they were keeping Yeovil, Hartlepool and Hereford company on the fixture list.
So what is there to “rebuild” about a side who have reached the Carabao Cup semi-finals, the FA Cup quarterfinals and look nailed-on for European football next season?
Leicester are the third highest scorers and the have the second best defensive record in the division. The only teams above them are Liverpool and Manchester City, two of the most incredible teams we have ever seen in English football.
As things stand, Rodgers is above Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham in the table – four massive clubs who would all swap places with him right now.
He is above Wolves, who have spent big money and could yet finish in the top four themselves. But I don’t hear anyone saying Wolves need to rebuild.
And he’s done it playing stylish football with a young squad whose average age is 25, and only three players in his best starting XI – Kasper Schmeichel, Jonny Evans and Jamie Vardy – are over 30.
Most Leicester fans I know would have settled for the once-in-a-lifetime miracle of their club being champions and happily slipped back into mid-table anonymity.
They have lost N’golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Danny Drinkwater yet Rodgers has them knocking on the door of Europe again.
Yes, they have won only two of the last 11 league games. And, yes, United and Wolves are closing in fast.
But I don’t see Leicester finishing any lower than sixth, their recruitment has been excellent and it drives me mad when I hear people talk about them as if they need a major overhaul when it’s one of the best-run clubs in the country.
Gary Neville said Liverpool had made a habit of turning
£30million players into £100m assets, and
Leicester are not far behind.
How much would
Leicester get for Ben
Chilwell, James Maddison
(with Kelechi Iheanacho, left), Harvey Barnes, Caglar Soyuncu and Ricardo Pereira if they sold them tomorrow?
Football is a game of opinions and every fan is entitled to dream, but since 2015, no set of supporters in the country have lived the dream more than Leicester.
I can understand there will be pangs of disappointment if they finish outside the top four after spending so many months above the dotted line.
But before a ball was kicked last August, how many out there genuinely thought Rodgers (right) could take them back into the Champions League?
That’s the real measure of Leicester City’s achievement this season.
Rebuild? No – but just imagine what Rodgers could do if they invest in another two or three quality players.