Recruitment of players

[CrispinLA in Texas]

Some here have suggested that some players are bought in because Brendan/Congerton want them and so called experienced EPL ready players while others are chosen by our trusted Leicester recruitment analysis team who want more younger up and coming talents. What do you guys think? I much prefer the latter as we are known as a great recruitment club who buy cheap and sell high. I don't trust Brendan/Congerton buying EPL ready players, those two Southampton players aswell as Perez being the case in point.

[foxile5]

Our recruitment has been lauded. There are some duff ones but that's to be expected. 

 

Bertrand will be useful over the course of this season and Vestegaard was called in to do an emergency job at late notice. Not much we can do about that. 

[Guy]

Oddly enough the best recruitment era in recent years was during the much lamented (on the pitch) Claude Puel era (in conjunction with Rudkin) of 2017-18 - ref the likes of Maddison, Soyuncu and Tielemans on loan-turned-permanent-signing arriving at the King Power, Pearson (with Steve Walsh) before that obviously in his second spell. I'm personally not sure about Rodgers/Congerton's latest signings being what the club really required but I'm sure whoever they've signed (re Soumare/Daka/Bertrand/Vestergarrd), is in their view in the best interests of LCFC and not to deliberatley turn us into being a mid-lower table top flight team who are just grateful to be staying up (a la yesterday's opponents Burnley), like we always were back in the early-mid 80s! Lookman has been the best signing of this season for us. Besides I'm sure Top wouldn't stand for such mediocrity in the long run and although it is way too early to say at this stage, then even so if this season doesn't end well then Brendan isn't completely indispensable, no manager is these days! Ranieri wasn't either after his heroics five years ago!  

Edited 26 September 2021 by Guy

[LestaFox92]

Yeah I'd like our recruitment and scouting team to be as in-house as possible obviously if a manager wants a certain player no harm in that but putting our eggs into one basket could leave us in trouble in the future and with brendans track record of recruiting players i think he had a bad rep at liverpool for it,

saying that tho he's not done to bad here but it's hard to say where the signings are coming from and who's actually making the decisions.

a part from dennis preat and vestergaard we've done pretty well this season but i really don't understand the vestergaard signing the only thing he's got going for him is his passing for me.

[Lambert09]

3 minutes ago, Guy said:

Oddly enough the best recruitment era in recent years was during the much lamented (on the pitch) Claude Puel era (in conjunction with Rudkin) of 2017-18 - ref the likes of Maddison, Soyuncu and Tielemans on loan-turned-permanent-signing arriving at the King Power, Pearson (with Steve Walsh) before that obviously in his second spell. I'm personally not sure about Rodgers/Congerton's latest signings being what they club really required but I'm sure whoever they've signed (Soumare/Daka/Bertrand/Vestergarrd), is in their view in the best interests of LCFC and not to de;iberatley turn us into being a mid-lower table top flight team who are just grateful to be staying up (a la yesterday's opponents Burnley), like we always were back in the early-mid 80s! I'm sure Top wouldn't stand for that in the long run anyway and although it is way too early to say at this stage, then even so if this season doesn't end well then Brendan isn't completely non dispensable, no manager is these days! Ranieri wasn't either after his herois five years ago!  

Bang on. Claude is genuinely great at the business side of football, just a dull as dishwater coach. 
 

You can’t fault his recruitment with the exception of rachid 

[elvisfmcfly]

55 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

Bang on. Claude is genuinely great at the business side of football, just a dull as dishwater coach. 
 

You can’t fault his recruitment with the exception of rachid 

How’s it working for him at St Ettiene? 

[Leicester_Loyal]

27 minutes ago, elvisfmcfly said:

How’s it working for him at St Ettiene? 

Don't know about the recruitment side of it, but I read earlier he's got the lowest points per game average of any manager of St Ettiene (that has managed 50 games minimum)

[UpTheLeagueFox]

3 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

Claude... 

 

2 hours ago, elvisfmcfly said:

How’s it working for him at St Ettiene? 

 

1 hour ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Don't know about the recruitment side of it, but I read earlier he's got the lowest points per game average of any manager of St Ettiene (that has managed 50 games minimum)

Drew the first three games this season and now lost the last five and sit bottom of the table.

Lost almost half of his games in charge in there, win ratio around 30%

[davieG]

When Justin and Fofana are back Bertrand and Vestergaard will be back ups and used purely for rotational or tactical purposes. I think that will explain their recruitment.

 

I'm sure also the inhouse team will have done their normal due diligence on them. 

 

Didn't we try to sign Vestergaard in earlier window?

[murphy]

5 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

 

 

Drew the first three games this season and now lost the last five and sit bottom of the table.

Lost almost half of his games in charge in there, win ratio around 30%

Never missing an opportunity to stick the boot in to poor old Claude, nearly three years after he's gone 

 

That's fine, unless, hypothetically speaking of course, you were to go into another thread about a certain Spanish forward perhaps and take the moral high ground against those of us that have the audacity not to rate him.  There would be a certain irony, not to mention hypocrisy about that I imagine.

 

Hypothetically speaking.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

Under Rodgers we've signed one of the best young centre backs in world football, a full back from nowhere that would have gone to the euros ahead of several multi million pound players and youri tielemans.

 

Yeah we've signed some players that aren't as good but there's some massive revisionism here. The recruitment has been outstanding.

 

Soumare, Daka and Lookman could well prove to be outstanding as well.

 

Some of our fans are ****ing cretins.

[StriderHiryu]

10 hours ago, CrispinLA in Texas said:

Some here have suggested that some players are bought in because Brendan/Congerton want them and so called experienced EPL ready players while others are chosen by our trusted Leicester recruitment analysis team who want more younger up and coming talents. What do you guys think? I much prefer the latter as we are known as a great recruitment club who buy cheap and sell high. I don't trust Brendan/Congerton buying EPL ready players, those two Southampton players aswell as Perez being the case in point.

There's no such thing as Rodgers / Congerton wanting specific players and overruling our transfer department.

 

Signings at the club aren't determined by one person. A whole team is dedicated to identifying potential players and bringing them in, with Jon Rudkin the person ultimately accountable for any new transfer in or out. That team consists of data analysis, in-person scout reports, background checks into player characteristics and so on. Rodgers and Congerton feed into it, but don't have the ultimate say.

 

We get it, you don't like some of the transfers brought in this season. But this "told you so!" attitude helps no-one and is not constructive. You sound like a broken record.

 

- Fuchs left, we signed experienced cover in Bertrand for free. Gosens was too expensive.

- Tielemans is in danger of leaving by running down his contract, and played almost every game last season, so we got in Soumare.

- Vardy's goals were drying up at the end of last season so we signed Daka.

- Fofana got cruelly injured so we brought in a previously scouted defender in Vestergaard in the space of 8 days.

- We signed another attacking player for the wings to push Perez and Barnes in Lookman.

 

All sensible signings, and we lost no first team players this summer for the first time since we won the title.

 

Get behind the team and give these players a chance to settle in. In case you forget, we once signed a striker who scored just 4 goals in 28 appearances in his first season who was written off by the majority of our fanbase. That striker's name... Jamie Vardy.

 

 

Edited 27 September 2021 by StriderHiryu

[volpeazzurro]

5 hours ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

 

 

Drew the first three games this season and now lost the last five and sit bottom of the table.

Lost almost half of his games in charge in there, win ratio around 30%

I think that some fairness has to be applied here, not that I wanted Puel to stay.

 

Look at the problems Puel had to sort out here when he arrived and the quality of players available to him at the start.

 

Within a very short space of time at St Etienne, both Fofana and Saliba were transferred from under his nose.

 

In comparison, Rodgers, compared to Ranieri, Shakespeare and Puel with what they had to contend with has had a cakewalk. 

[volpeazzurro]

2 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

There's no such thing as Rodgers / Congerton wanting specific players and overruling our transfer department.

 

Signings at the club aren't determined by one person. A whole team is dedicated to identifying potential players and bringing them in, with Jon Rudkin the person ultimately accountable for any new transfer in or out. That team consists of data analysis, in-person scout reports, background checks into player characteristics and so on. Rodgers and Congerton feed into it, but don't have the ultimate say.

 

We get it, you don't like some of the transfers brought in this season. But this "told you so!" attitude helps no-one and is not constructive. You sound like a broken record.

 

- Fuchs left, we signed experienced cover in Bertrand for free. Gosens was too expensive.

- Tielemans is in danger of leaving by running down his contract, so we got in Soumare.

- Vardy's goals were drying up at the end of last season so we signed Daka.

- Fofana got cruelly injured so we brought in a previously scouted defender in Vestergaard in the space of 8 days.

- We signed another attacking player for the wings to push Perez and Barnes in Lookman.

 

All sensible signings, and we lost no first team players this summer for the first time since we won the title.

 

Get behind the team and give these players a chance to settle in. In case you forger, we once signed a striker who scored just 4 goals in 28 appearances in his first season who was written off by the majority of our fanbase. That striker's name... Jamie Vardy.

I personally don't have any axe to grind with our recruitment department. As you rightly identify, there are sound reasonings behind all of those.

[An Sionnach]

10 hours ago, CrispinLA in Texas said:

Some here have suggested that some players are bought in because Brendan/Congerton want them and so called experienced EPL ready players while others are chosen by our trusted Leicester recruitment analysis team who want more younger up and coming talents. What do you guys think? I much prefer the latter as we are known as a great recruitment club who buy cheap and sell high. I don't trust Brendan/Congerton buying EPL ready players, those two Southampton players aswell as Perez being the case in point.

Mm, there have been winners and losers in our recruitment, for every Justin there has been a Musa or Diabate. I don't think we are any better than other clubs. The Kante, Mahrez miracle is very unlikely to be repeated. The three players who largely kept us in contention last year ,Vardy, Iheanacho and Barnes have been with us quite some time. To be honest ,the transfer market is a casino , you take a punt and hope for the best. I would like us to concentrate a lot more on developing young players.

[coolhandfox]

I always love it when people say this is a BR or CP or a recruitment department signing when nobody bloody knows 

 

Just trying to find another stick to beat the manager with.....

[Babylon]

10 hours ago, CrispinLA in Texas said:

Some here have suggested that some players are bought in because Brendan/Congerton want them and so called experienced EPL ready players while others are chosen by our trusted Leicester recruitment analysis team who want more younger up and coming talents. What do you guys think? I much prefer the latter as we are known as a great recruitment club who buy cheap and sell high. I don't trust Brendan/Congerton buying EPL ready players, those two Southampton players aswell as Perez being the case in point.

Vestergarrd and Bertrand are essentially our 4th choice centre back and our 2nd choice left back. Buying young and upcoming players for those positions doesn't really make sense when you already have young and upcoming talents in those areas. 

[SkidsFox]

Given recruitment in the last few years has included Fofana, Tielemans, Justin, Castagne and potentially Lookman, I don't see how it can be knocked. The only query is over the Danish Centre half when we could have kept faith with Amartey and/or Benks, but we don't see them in training as the management does.

[Pliskin]

Our window has been excellent. Soumare and Daka will turn into top players. We’ve been fairly steady with recruitment since our mad spree post the league winning season. But we’ve gone for long term transfers that will come good as time goes on. 
 

Im frustrated we’re not seeing more of Daka, but Rodgers knows how to handle players better than we do, and I trust then when he’s ready he will start to feature more.

 

Im still hopeful out slow start is due to the team gelling with the new players, and the emergency players like Jannic settling in. 
 

We will start to pick up, once the games start coming in we will have more of a chance to gel and get consistent. 
 

It’s been a fantastic window, and we will see the results of it as the season progresses. 

[mod hero]

Do nothing but moan on here @CrispinLA in Texas

 

when did you start supporting Leicester out of interest?

[Finnegan]

54 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Signings at the club aren't determined by one person

 

I'm close to getting this tattooed to my face. It's a real bugbear of mine I end up having this debate with people all the time. 

 

It doesn't help that the media perpetuate it all the time. 

 

I mean they absolutely must know better (Geoff, they do, right?) but still all you ever read is "Klopp has made Dave Smith his number one target!", "Pep failed to sign a striker this summer!", "Ole shocks the world bringing Ronaldo back to United!" and its utter absurdity. 

 

Football hasn't resembled Clough and Taylor driving round the country, knocking on the door of some terrace house tapping up talent like a scene from the Damned United in decades, if it ever truly did.

 

I appreciate it makes easy shorthand to use a manager as a synonym for a club's entire recruitment structure but it also leads to fans having skewed judgement for the success and failures of their coaches. 

[drumbeat]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

I think that will explain their recruitment.

^ This. I don't think they were signings for anything other than squad depth. That they've been called into front line action so regularly was perhaps not the plan. Bertrand has experience, I suspect that's why we's preferred in our somewhat makeshift defence.

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

1 hour ago, davieG said:

When Justin and Fofana are back Bertrand and Vestergaard will be back ups and used purely for rotational or tactical purposes. I think that will explain their recruitment.

 

I'm sure also the inhouse team will have done their normal due diligence on them. 

 

Didn't we try to sign Vestergaard in earlier window?

A slight digression maybe, but Wes is likely out for the season and James is unlikely to be up his pre injury standard for the rest of the season. Would like to think I'm wrong on this but probably realistic.

 

So we have Vestergaard and Bertrand to cover for a vital season in essence. Bertrand as a free may do a job, though I think Thomas should be given the chance and/or possibly Castagne on the left flank even though he's better on the other side it seems. At £15M, Vestergaard, on the evidence to date, is a poor signing. I think Amartey is as good.

 

Soumare will come good with time I am sure and hopefully Daka will get his chance certainly in non league games to develop. 

 

So, for me, a mixed bag, but poor recruitment at the back may well be very costly this season. Hope I'm wrong. 

Edited 27 September 2021 by Cadno'r Cymoedd

[lcfc_forever]

5 minutes ago, drumbeat said:

^ This. I don't think they were signings for anything other than squad depth. That they've been called into front line action so regularly was perhaps not the plan. Bertrand has experience, I suspect that's why we's preferred in our somewhat makeshift defence.

Yep, that's the main reason I can think of why Bertrand is playing, although he was very good in pre-season. 

 

Thomas offers more offensively, and Castagne is a better all-round player but perhaps given the disruption to the defence, the manager thinks having more experience there is beneficial.

 

The other reason is potentially tactical - Bertrand talked about the defence becoming a 3 when Ricardo is attacking, and so he may trust Bertrand more to become a left-sided centre-half. 

 

It's still early days for Vestergaard and he still may well come good. Statistically, he is dominant in the air, and strong at set pieces at both ends, tackling issues that damaged us the previous season. Sounds like he was brilliant vs Man City, and was solid in the Euros so there is a talent there but regular changes in defence won't be helping him settle.  

 

That said, a trend is emerging where we often have a better hit rate of buying young players (Fofana, Soyuncu, Justin, Maddison, Ihenacho etc.) rather than proven, more experienced players (Perez, Slimani). I think we were looking for a younger centre half but Fofana's injury combined with Evans' ongoing foot problem meant we wanted a player with Premier League experience who could dominate in the air. 

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

Just now, lcfc_forever said:

Yep, that's the main reason I can think of why Bertrand is playing, although he was very good in pre-season. 

 

Thomas offers more offensively, and Castagne is a better all-round player but perhaps given the disruption to the defence, the manager thinks having more experience there is beneficial.

 

The other reason is potentially tactical - Bertrand talked about the defence becoming a 3 when Ricardo is attacking, and so he may trust Bertrand more to become a left-sided centre-half. 

 

It's still early days for Vestergaard and he still may well come good. Statistically, he is dominant in the air, and strong at set pieces at both ends, tackling issues that damaged us the previous season. Sounds like he was brilliant vs Man City, and was solid in the Euros so there is a talent there but regular changes in defence won't be helping him settle.  

 

That said, a trend is emerging where we often have a better hit rate of buying young players (Fofana, Soyuncu, Justin, Maddison, Ihenacho etc.) rather than proven, more experienced players (Perez, Slimani). I think we were looking for a younger centre half but Fofana's injury combined with Evans' ongoing foot problem meant we wanted a player with Premier League experience who could dominate in the air. 

If only....