Rodgers a realist but Foxes and Wolves are hungry to challenge elite
WHEN Leicester City won the Premier League in 2016, many hoped their triumph would ignite a beacon of uprising against the established elite and pave the way for the also-rans to force their way on to the top table.
That never happened. Instead it woke those giants from their complacent stupor. They sat up, blinked, found a ragamuffin pinching their grub, and took measures to stop it happening again.
They pulled up the drawbridge. In three seasons, the ‘Big Six’ were responsible for just under half of the net transfer spend in the Premier League. The result: the same teams filled the top six positions three seasons in a row. Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United. The gap between sixth and the rest has been nine points over the past two seasons.
And yet some clubs still sense an opportunity. They have seen United require a complete reconstruction, Arsenal still trying to shake themselves out of the sleepwalking end to the Arsene Wenger era and Chelsea lose their best player, get hit with a transfer ban and appoint a head coach only a year into his managerial career.
Two of those sides meet today. Leicester, under Brendan Rodgers, welcome Nuno Espirito Santo’s Wolves, last season’s best of the rest.
Rodgers said this week that he wants Leicester to ‘knock on the door of the top six as hard as they can’. His squad includes James Maddison — no one created more chances in the Premier League last season. They have Jamie
Vardy — no Englishman scored more goals. Wilfried Ndidi — no one won more tackles. They have Ben Chilwell, England’s first-choice left-back. In Jonny Evans they have a centre-back who Rodgers believes ‘could play for any team in this league’.
Wolves, meanwhile, are bursting with flair. Diego Jota and Ruben Neves both played against Leicester for Porto in the Champions League. Raul Jimenez was ruthless in front of goal. Only three players created more chances than Joao Moutinho. What Leicester don’t have any more is Harry Maguire after Manchester United snatched him for £80m. Whatever your ambitions, you will always be a selling club if the big boys come swooping.
The maverick in all this was Vardy, who turned down a move to Arsenal three summers ago.
‘I’m a realist,’ says Rodgers. ‘This club has got great ambitions but it’s never going to have the money that a lot of the top-six clubs have. There’s no way we’ll be able to offer the salaries of teams at that level and that’s the reality of it.
‘That gap has grown, but our ambition is to take steps to get there.
‘If we can get European football during my time here then that will make me really happy.’
Leicester v Wolves, 2pm.