Squad’s thriving ‘thanks to Bren’
RODGERS WANTS TO HAVE A FINAL SAY NEXT MONTH
BRENDAN RODGERS will keep turning rough diamonds into superstars, says former Leicester midfielder Dean Hammond.
The Foxes could book their place in the FA Cup final with a victory over Southampton this evening.
However, a top-four finish is still far from certain after back-to-back defeats.
Rodgers looks set to bring in fresh faces over the summer and
£30million-rated Lille midfielder Boubakary Soumare is firmly on the agenda.
Hammond, who played
41 times for Leicester during a three-year stay at the King Power Stadium, reckons the former Celtic and Liverpool chief’s biggest strength is the way he develops youngsters.
He said: “Brendan has made players even better over the last 12 months – especially James Maddison and Harvey Barnes.
“Even Jamie Vardy has continued to improve as he goes into the latter stages of his career.
“Players come there and they move them on for big money – look at Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell. They’ve got a great model but are still competitive.
“If they can win the FA Cup and finish in the top four then that’s a fantastic achievement with what rival clubs invest.
“Leicester don’t spend a lot of money so real credit to them.
“They’ve also been stretched with injures and suspensions – Rodgers has done a really great job.”
Kelechi Iheanacho (below), a £25m arrival from Manchester City in 2017, has been in impressive form in recent weeks.
The Nigeria international has scored seven goals in his last five top-flight appearances for Leicester.
And he has a crucial role to play in the closing weeks of the season, says Hammond.
“Iheanacho is a really good finisher and is getting in the right positions,” he said. “If he can continue this form it’s going to be brilliant for Leicester.”
BRENDAN RODGERS is determined to make it third time lucky in his bid to reach a major English final after Aston Villa twice wrecked his hopes in the semis.
The Leicester boss was in charge of Liverpool in 2015 when Jack Grealish and Co won their FA Cup clash and Villa then knocked the Foxes out of the EFL Cup semis last season.
Ahead of today’s FA Cup last-four clash with Southampton, Rodgers (above) said: “In 2015 we didn’t play well, structurally I didn’t feel we functioned that well.
“And they played very well and deserved to go through.
“It was the game Jack really took a big step forward in his career — he was probably about 19 at the time and was outstanding.
“There was a lot of pressure. The whole feeling going into the game at that time was that if we arrived in the final, it coincided with Steven Gerrard’s birthday and it was going to be his last game.
“There was a lot of emotional stuff around it. But the bottom line is you’ve got to win, and we didn’t win.
“We go into this game and we prepare. We look to do our very best and think if we can perform well, we’ll have a really good chance of getting through.”
One of the more experienced players Rodgers will look to for that is Jonny Evans who he hopes will guide his side to the final on May 15.
Rodgers added: “Off the pitch he’s a top professional, prepares himself well, very focused, analyses his game, thinks about the game, rests well, recovers well, prepares himself to a very high level.
“He’s the type of guy who, under pressure, deals with those situations really well. “To have someone of that quality and that mentality in your team is a great benefit.”