Players’ own ambitions may undo the Foxes
IT appears that the dismantling of Leicester City’s title-winning squad may have already begun.
If we didn’t know better, it would seem that forces are conspiring to make sure that the upstarts don’t spoil things for the established order again.
Before Euro 2016 kicked off, the Foxes’ three best players – Jamie Vardy, N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez – were the subject of strong transfer speculation involving bigger clubs.
Arsenal are said to be ready to meet Vardy’s £20m release clause, PSG and Chelsea have shown interest in Kante – who has a £19.5m trigger – while the Gunners are rumoured to be willing to pay £25m for Mahrez.
It’s possible all three will still be at the King Power to help Claudio Ranieri defend the title he won so spectacularly in May.
On the other hand, the Italian may have to watch helplessly as the heart of his team is ripped out. It’s what happens when smaller teams are successful.
Borussia Dortmund regularly have their best players cherry-picked by Bayern Munich, thus neutralising the threat of continued competition.
It’s been going on for years in Scotland where Rangers and Celtic have consistently nullified other clubs by taking away their star men.
The last thing the traditional Premier League powerbase wants is another season when Leicester take a Champions League qualifying spot.
But those clubs who’d like to slap Leicester back down into their “proper place” may be assisted by the Foxes players’ own ambitions.
At 29, it’s Vardy’s final chance to play at a super club. For Kante and Mahrez, who had barely heard of Leicester when they arrived from French football, the temptation is of more prestige and huge salary hikes.
Legendary basketball coach Pat Riley coined the term “the innocent climb” when he took the LA Lakers to an unexpected NBA title back in 1980.
He also used the phrase “the disease of me” when describing how a squad built on team spirit began to pursue personal agendas at the expense of the collective.
It’s human nature and no-one could blame the Leicester lads for cashing in while they can.
There’s a lot of money out there and they will know that, even if the group does stay together, the chances of replicating last season’s success are small.
Nonetheless, it would be sad to see Ranieri’s team break up before they’ve had chance to kick a ball in defence of their title or inhe Champions League.