'Our aim' – Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers reveals summer transfer plan

[davieG]

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/our-aim--leicester-city-3936281

 

The Leicester City manager is keen to 'refresh' his playing staff when the transfer window opens having worked with 'virtually the same squad' since his arrival

ByJordan Blackwell
17:00, 10 MAR 2020UPDATED20:11, 10 MAR 2020

Leicester City’s plan to revamp their squad this summer is under way, manager Brendan Rodgers has said.

Although City are on course to surpass expectations and finish in the Champions League places – with Monday night’s win over Aston Villa strengthening their grip on a top-four spot – Rodgers has said he wants to “refresh” his group when the transfer window opens, hinting at more than a handful of new faces.

While on-pitch matters – and securing a return to Uefa’s top competition – remain his focus, Rodgers said work is ongoing behind the scenes, with head of recruitment Lee Congerton and the scouting team scouring Europe and the world for potential targets.

“By the end of the season, we’ll have been working with virtually the same squad for near-on 18 months, so you need to refresh it, you need to keep looking to raise the bar. That sort of plan is under way.

“I think the key now is to finish the job and give everything to get to where we want to be at the end of the season, and then we can look at that."

Four players have arrived on permanent deals since Rodgers took charge: James Justin, Ayoze Perez, Dennis Praet, and Youri Tielemans, albeit the latter was in the squad that the Northern Irishman inherited, having represented City on loan last season.

 

 

Pretty obvious stuff.

[Spudulike]

Worried. 

[Ric Flair]

Congerton came in like a wrecking ball....

[norwichfox]

21 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Congerton came in like a wrecking ball....

...it's a worry, I'll start panicking tomorrow.

[somebum]

Mmmm

[volpeazzurro]

Bearing in mind that we had previously scouted Justin and possibly Praet I understand, plus the loan of Tielemans, that leaves just Perez. Oh dear. Wonder if we can 'refresh' the squad by forwarding him on? At best he's a squad player who cost 30m, Congerton and Rodgers could bankrupt us by next Christmas with a bunch of long term contract stiffs! Let's hope our recruitment department can continue how they have been doing more recently without too much influence from either of them. 

[Spudulike]

29 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Bearing in mind that we had previously scouted Justin and possibly Praet I understand, plus the loan of Tielemans, that leaves just Perez. Oh dear. Wonder if we can 'refresh' the squad by forwarding him on? At best he's a squad player who cost 30m, Congerton and Rodgers could bankrupt us by next Christmas with a bunch of long term contract stiffs! Let's hope our recruitment department can continue how they have been doing more recently without too much influence from either of them. 

Did Perez really cost £30m? I've seen other suggestions that it was more like £16m. Similar to the Teilemans fee being £40m whereas I think its now accepted that it was actually £32m.

 

[Guest SO1]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Worried. 

About death? It's coming for us all.

[Guest SO1]

21 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Did Perez really cost £30m? I've seen other suggestions that it was more like £16m. Similar to the Teilemans fee being £40m whereas I think its now accepted that it was actually £32m.

 

Lee. Is that you?

 

[Xen]

49 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Bearing in mind that we had previously scouted Justin and possibly Praet I understand, plus the loan of Tielemans, that leaves just Perez. Oh dear. Wonder if we can 'refresh' the squad by forwarding him on? At best he's a squad player who cost 30m, Congerton and Rodgers could bankrupt us by next Christmas with a bunch of long term contract stiffs! Let's hope our recruitment department can continue how they have been doing more recently without too much influence from either of them. 

Based on what, exactly?

 

Neither Congerton nor Rodgers will be involved in any contractual negotiations, that's Rudkin's domain. He's not done too badly in recent years, so no need to be too concerned there.

 

 

Perez hasn't done too badly at all - he's been an involved player in arguably our second-best squad ever - and considering people value Gray at ~£20m then £30m for Perez isn't too outlandish. Not every signing is going to hit the heights of Vardy, Ndidi, Pereira etc., and whilst he's not been a star player I'd still find it hard to call him a flop.

 

Congerton wasn't around long enough in the summer to have an impact on transfers, and in the winter its hard to find value anyway. That said, we were supposedly looking at a very promising signing in Demiral before he got injured, so I'd say he's on the right track for what we're after. Remember that the environment and budget he's working with at Leicester is worlds apart from his previous roles at Sunderland, Celtic etc. where his hands were tied by restrictive budgets and clubs which aren't able to attract the same calibre of player as ourselves.

 

[StriderHiryu]

23 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Did Perez really cost £30m? I've seen other suggestions that it was more like £16m. Similar to the Teilemans fee being £40m whereas I think its now accepted that it was actually £32m.

 

Yes he was 30m. It was initially reported as 16m, but Percy corrected his article. The deal happened so quickly because he had a release clause which we paid. Newcastle were unable to prevent us agreeing terms and signing the player, which Mike Ashley complained about. 

 

Of course it does make you question the transfer. At 16m he would be seen as very good business, for 30m, unconvincing so far. But I'd still give him time as not everyone hits the ground running straight away. E.g. Nacho was seen as a write-off by all of us but under Rodgers suddenly turned into a very good option or foil for Vardy. Perez has done more for us so far than say Inler, Ghezall or Adrian Silva, possibly even Slimani depending on your view point.  

Back to the opening post, I wonder how many we will look to sign? I was surprised we only signed Bennet in the window as I thought we might use our Champions League place position as clout to get some players. I think we will see 5-6 new players come in during the summer, though I don't think we will break the club record. I could see us doing something like spending 100m and then recouping 60-80m in return. I could also see Chilwell go as the "major departure" this summer to Chelsea for a Maguire style inflated fee. 

[urban.spaceman]

I can see why some people are a bit worried given Congerton's reputation at Celtic and Sunderland I'm more intrigued personally. This is the first time he'll actually have the resources to get the right type of player, with a club who already have an excellent recruitment track record and the team and means to bring in quality.

 

At least I ****ing hope.

 

Priorities this summer should be:

Starting CB

Squad CB

Starting RW

Squad GK

 

This might be the first summer we don't make a massive sale. Which for me would be an even bigger statement than demanding £85m for Maguire up front and then not spending it. 

 

Massive summer coming up. I am so ****ing excited.

[mozartfox]

17 minutes ago, Xen said:

Based on what, exactly?

 

Neither Congerton nor Rodgers will be involved in any contractual negotiations, that's Rudkin's domain. He's not done too badly in recent years, so no need to be too concerned there.

 

 

Perez hasn't done too badly at all - he's been an involved player in arguably our second-best squad ever - and considering people value Gray at ~£20m then £30m for Perez isn't too outlandish. Not every signing is going to hit the heights of Vardy, Ndidi, Pereira etc., and whilst he's not been a star player I'd still find it hard to call him a flop.

 

Congerton wasn't around long enough in the summer to have an impact on transfers, and in the winter its hard to find value anyway. That said, we were supposedly looking at a very promising signing in Demiral before he got injured, so I'd say he's on the right track for what we're after. Remember that the environment and budget he's working with at Leicester is worlds apart from his previous roles at Sunderland, Celtic etc. where his hands were tied by restrictive budgets and clubs which aren't able to attract the same calibre of player as ourselves.

 

If Chris Strap-on reads this part, you are for it!

[An Away Move]

Not sure the current squad need to be hearing this with 9 games to go. Might make a few heads drop. 

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

I think we certainly need a striker -- Vardy isn't going to have less injuries next year, and Nacho is a different type (which is good to have).

We need a winger -- although Barnes's 2020 form means we don't need two (although we might get two).

We could use another No. 10 type (we seemed stocked on 8's) and possibly a holding midfielder.

We need to try and offload every senior player on loan (except maybe Benko if he turns a corner), and see how Knight and Dewsbury-Hall due in pre-season (both are too good for League 1).

But when Brendan says he wants to re-sign both Morgan and Fuchs, it does make me wonder what he means by "re-fresh".

[Les-TA-Jon]

I mean there's not much substance to any of this or the quotes is there? It's basically saying "in the summer we will look to sign some players" 

[eblair]

28 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

I can see why some people are a bit worried given Congerton's reputation at Celtic and Sunderland I'm more intrigued personally. This is the first time he'll actually have the resources to get the right type of player, with a club who already have an excellent recruitment track record and the team and means to bring in quality.

 

At least I ****ing hope.

 

Priorities this summer should be:

Starting CB

Squad CB

Starting RW

Squad GK

 

This might be the first summer we don't make a massive sale. Which for me would be an even bigger statement than demanding £85m for Maguire up front and then not spending it. 

 

Massive summer coming up. I am so ****ing excited.

starting CB, what's wrong with Cags + Evans; and wtf do we need a new keeper when have 4 decent one on our books (jakupovic, iversen + ward)

[Oldblueyes]

It is all right to discuss spending 100-150 mill on new players, but to keep withing FFP,  we will have to sell to balance the books. 

 

You can't  keep buying players without knowing you can offset that cost elsewhere. 

 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

12 minutes ago, SydenhamFox said:

Not sure the current squad need to be hearing this with 9 games to go. Might make a few heads drop. 

Or put a rocket up their backside knowing that they'll have to finish the season strong or risk having players brought in to compete with them for their spot next season. 

[urban.spaceman]

Just now, eblair said:

starting CB, what's wrong with Cags + Evans; and wtf do we need a new keeper when have 3 decent one on our books

We'll be playing a minimum extra 6 games next season in Europe. Evans and Cags are excellent together but Evans won't be able to play that many more games AND play in the league and we definitely don't want to rely on Morgan and Fuchs to step in. Benkovic's fitness is volatile at best. We need at least 1 CB to be available and good enough to start, and more cover.

 

As for a new keeper, we need to either promote Iverson or bring in a decent back up to Kasper.

[Guest Manini]

11 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Or put a rocket up their backside knowing that they'll have to finish the season strong or risk having players brought in to compete with them for their spot next season. 

Yeah. If stuff like this makes their heads drop then it says more about their own mentality and we’re probably better off replacing them with people who want to be the best they can be. 

[volpeazzurro]

1 hour ago, Spudulike said:

Did Perez really cost £30m? I've seen other suggestions that it was more like £16m. Similar to the Teilemans fee being £40m whereas I think its now accepted that it was actually £32m.

 

Probably the club made that 'suggestion' out of sheer embarrassment! Wasn't there a clause in his contract that Leicester had to meet by all accounts?

[nettle]

18 minutes ago, Oldblueyes said:

It is all right to discuss spending 100-150 mill on new players, but to keep withing FFP,  we will have to sell to balance the books. 

 

You can't  keep buying players without knowing you can offset that cost elsewhere. 

 

 

Maddison and Chilwell will be gone if you ask me. 

[Xen]

Demiral as competition for starting CB (£30-40m)

Bennett on a permanent as 4th choice CB (£5m?)

RB cover for Ricardo as we move Justin to LB (£20m tops) [or push the boat out for a top-quality Ricardo-esque LB option like Telles]

Marquee signing for RW (£40-50m)

 

Another marquee signing at ST would also be ideal, but even with CL football we might struggle to bring in someone at that level whilst Vardy is still trucking along. Summer 2021 may be when we make our move there.

 

If Chilwell goes to Chelsea for ~£50m then that'd put our net spend at somewhere in the region of £60m, which would be pretty much in line with the extra cash flow we'd get from the CL. A few other sales here and there (flog Gray to Bournemouth or something, and move on the surplus players currently on loan like Silva, Slimani and Ghezzal) and that'll be a pretty decent window. Wouldn't be surprised if there was another unexpected incoming as well.

[Scotch]

22 minutes ago, Oldblueyes said:

It is all right to discuss spending 100-150 mill on new players, but to keep withing FFP,  we will have to sell to balance the books. 

 

You can't  keep buying players without knowing you can offset that cost elsewhere. 

 

 

Surely that's what we done this year? 

 

I might be wrong but as far as I can see, our net spend on players this year was 15m or something along those lines, which is nothing in today's game. As for wages, I couldn't say but certainly in terms of spending, we have been very prudent this season.