Leicester’s European fate will not affect summer targets

[davieG]

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/leicester-champions-league-brendan-rodgers-europa-league-london-b2068938.html

 

Brendan Rodgers insists Leicester’s European fate will not affect summer targets

 

Leicester have qualified for the Europa League in each of the last two years.
Ian Parker
 

Brendan Rodgers believes Leicester will be in a position to sign the players they want this summer regardless of whether or not they qualify for Europe again.

Rodgers has told his players to park thoughts of next week’s Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against Roma to focus on Sunday’s trip to Tottenham, but a visit to north London will keep Europe on Leicester’s minds after Spurs ended their Champions League hopes on the last day of last season.

If the Foxes can see off Roma next week – the tie is balanced at 1-1 after Thursday’s first leg – they will have a chance to book a Europa League spot via the final in Albania on May 25. It is their only realistic hope of European football given the 10-point gap, albeit with two games in hand, to West Ham.

Leicester have qualified for the Europa League in each of the last two years, twice narrowly missing out on the top four, but Rodgers insisted it was not central to their recruitment pitch.

“Obviously people love to play in Europe but I’m pretty sure over their history Leicester City haven’t had too many issues signing players and the club has only been in Europe over the last few seasons,” he said.

“It’s never stopped the club signing good players before. We would love to be in Europe, but if not I still think we can attract a good level of player. It will bring us more coaching time next season and hopefully we can challenge again, so I don’t think it will be a massive blow.”

Leicester have invested significantly in their facilities off the pitch in recent years, most obviously in the £100million training ground that opened last year to the highest specification in Europe, meaning they have other ways of selling themselves to potential signings.

“I think firstly you’re playing in the most competitive league in the world and in a team that wants to be competitive,” Rodgers said when asked what would attract players.

“If you look at our recent history you can see what we’ve done. This season there have been lots of mitigating circumstances, but there’s the chance to come here and develop as a player at arguably the world’s best training facility in the world’s best league.

“You’re with a group of staff that wants to develop you as a football player in a real community club where you’ll be looked after and taken care of.

“Any organisation is about one thing – the people and how they’re treated. For me this is a club that stands alone for how it looks after players and staff and that is a real draw for players to come.”

Leicester’s bid to secure European football via the league has been hampered by a lack of consistency, caused in no small part by injuries and the Covid disruption, which means they are still playing catch-up on the clubs around them.

But Rodgers has taken great encouragement from their performances in the Europa Conference League, with the only disappointment on Thursday being that they did not take advantage of more of the opportunities they created.

“I was so pleased with the authority we had in the game (against Roma), playing against an experienced opponent that is used to European football,” he said.

“So many of our players haven’t had that, but gradually I see us grow in these types of ties, how we are developing with the experiences against Rennes and PSV. I see a maturity within the team.

“We’ve got some players who have hardly played in the Premier League, they might be making their first starts in the Premier League, so to go out and play with that authority and that quality makes me really, really pleased.”

[StriderHiryu]

10 hours ago, davieG said:

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/leicester-champions-league-brendan-rodgers-europa-league-london-b2068938.html

 

Brendan Rodgers insists Leicester’s European fate will not affect summer targets

 

Leicester have qualified for the Europa League in each of the last two years.
Ian Parker
 

Brendan Rodgers believes Leicester will be in a position to sign the players they want this summer regardless of whether or not they qualify for Europe again.

Rodgers has told his players to park thoughts of next week’s Europa Conference League semi-final second leg against Roma to focus on Sunday’s trip to Tottenham, but a visit to north London will keep Europe on Leicester’s minds after Spurs ended their Champions League hopes on the last day of last season.

If the Foxes can see off Roma next week – the tie is balanced at 1-1 after Thursday’s first leg – they will have a chance to book a Europa League spot via the final in Albania on May 25. It is their only realistic hope of European football given the 10-point gap, albeit with two games in hand, to West Ham.

Leicester have qualified for the Europa League in each of the last two years, twice narrowly missing out on the top four, but Rodgers insisted it was not central to their recruitment pitch.

“Obviously people love to play in Europe but I’m pretty sure over their history Leicester City haven’t had too many issues signing players and the club has only been in Europe over the last few seasons,” he said.

“It’s never stopped the club signing good players before. We would love to be in Europe, but if not I still think we can attract a good level of player. It will bring us more coaching time next season and hopefully we can challenge again, so I don’t think it will be a massive blow.”

Leicester have invested significantly in their facilities off the pitch in recent years, most obviously in the £100million training ground that opened last year to the highest specification in Europe, meaning they have other ways of selling themselves to potential signings.

“I think firstly you’re playing in the most competitive league in the world and in a team that wants to be competitive,” Rodgers said when asked what would attract players.

“If you look at our recent history you can see what we’ve done. This season there have been lots of mitigating circumstances, but there’s the chance to come here and develop as a player at arguably the world’s best training facility in the world’s best league.

“You’re with a group of staff that wants to develop you as a football player in a real community club where you’ll be looked after and taken care of.

“Any organisation is about one thing – the people and how they’re treated. For me this is a club that stands alone for how it looks after players and staff and that is a real draw for players to come.”

Leicester’s bid to secure European football via the league has been hampered by a lack of consistency, caused in no small part by injuries and the Covid disruption, which means they are still playing catch-up on the clubs around them.

But Rodgers has taken great encouragement from their performances in the Europa Conference League, with the only disappointment on Thursday being that they did not take advantage of more of the opportunities they created.

“I was so pleased with the authority we had in the game (against Roma), playing against an experienced opponent that is used to European football,” he said.

“So many of our players haven’t had that, but gradually I see us grow in these types of ties, how we are developing with the experiences against Rennes and PSV. I see a maturity within the team.

“We’ve got some players who have hardly played in the Premier League, they might be making their first starts in the Premier League, so to go out and play with that authority and that quality makes me really, really pleased.”

Nice to hear, but realistically it will affect us because players will think about the decision before signing. Had we qualified for the Champions League, Robin Gosens would have signed for us, who is a top class player.

 

If we are after some of the PSV / Rennes targets perhaps it won't affect us too much. But other teams might have a more compelling case than us.

[fox_up_north]

Injury-free, I'd say top 7 is a very strong possibility. We should be trying to sell players on that. Sure, this season hasn't been great but we've still got to a European semi and are likely for top 10, with the players to keep us going. 

 

Players from clubs in 4th-8th from top leagues, or even top 3 but aren't getting regular games, would definitely find us an attractive prospect. 

[filbertway]

Brendan Rodgers in lying through his teeth because its what people want to hear shock

 

[Aus Fox]

1 minute ago, filbertway said:

Brendan Rodgers in lying through his teeth because its what people want to hear shock

 

Realistically, he’s correct in what he’s saying. If you look at it objectively, any player we are after will chose to go to any of the big money six if they came in for them.

Outside of those six, when you look at the whole package only West Ham are on a par with us, and that will largely come down to players choosing to be in London.

Europe or not next season, a player coming to us knows we have a better chance of competing with the biggest teams than most in the league. 

[Deeg67]

2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

Nice to hear, but realistically it will affect us because players will think about the decision before signing. Had we qualified for the Champions League, Robin Gosens would have signed for us, who is a top class player.

 

If we are after some of the PSV / Rennes targets perhaps it won't affect us too much. But other teams might have a more compelling case than us.

Yeah, that's a load of nonsense.  If you're ambitious at all in your targets it absolutely impacts you.

[foxinsocks]

When Rodgers says this stuff then cant he see he is undermining himself?

Some of his quotes to the mercury seem illl advised also. 

I am starting to think he is naive of doppy.

Edited 1 May 2022 by foxinsocks

[foxinsocks]

2 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

How is it undermining himself in anyway? 

Well, it seems untrue... if we have no euro football then some of our targets will prefer clubs that do have it.  The number of such foot ballers wont he zero.

[davieG]

The number of clubs that are in Europe in the UK is not large and we're not going to be serious contenders for players that are attractive to the SL6 so the only teams we're competing against are those outside those SL and in Europe.

 

I think there's enough quality out there to go around for us to be able to pick players that will improve us provided we are prepared to invest a few £££s and clear the way for them to have a serious shot at earning a first choice place.

[JimJams]

I don’t think Europa League football is all that big of a concern when buying players because you’ll be buying a certain standard of player that probably can’t realistically expect CL football and so the defining factor will likely be wages, which is where Premier League teams blow foreign clubs out of the water.

Onto CL football, it’s only Gosens that we supposedly missed out on due to not achieving it, but even then I’m sceptical that it’s a big factor because you’re unlikely to be edged into signing for a club just because they’ve just qualified for Europes biggest competition for that particular season. If it’s a side with sustained qualification to the CL then yes, it’ll probably be a big factor, but somebody outside of the expected clubs has probably got to put a run together for it to sway players. And even then, you’re still in a position where the biggest clubs will get them if they’re interested, wether they are in the CL or not because they’re a bigger draw even if we wouldn’t like to admit it. If we had CL football and one of Europe’s elite didn’t, they’d still be in pole position for that signing.

If we get Europa League for next season we’ll have had 3 years in a row, which is somewhat sustained, and that may have an effect, but I doubt it.

It’s about the wage packet.

[themightyfin]

9 hours ago, fox_up_north said:

Injury-free, I'd say top 7 is a very strong possibility. We should be trying to sell players on that. Sure, this season hasn't been great but we've still got to a European semi and are likely for top 10, with the players to keep us going. 

 

Players from clubs in 4th-8th from top leagues, or even top 3 but aren't getting regular games, would definitely find us an attractive prospect. 

But is that the sort of player we want?

Players that can't get into their teams?

They may be one or two not getting games that could improve us but generally we want players that will improve our atarting 11.

 

 

 

[themightyfin]

Not sure offering Europa  league would he a deal breaker.

It's hardly a prestigious tournament if it comes down to a player to a choice between two teams and one Is offering Europa  league and the other is offering 5k a week more. 

Seriously...which do you think he would choose?

If it was Champions league then that may sway him but Europa league I don't think would make a jot of difference. 

[sdb]

I agree that EL is probably only a small pull, in comparison to the CL, for example. However, we could realistically finish 14th or 15th this season and that certainly could see us miss out to a team that, deep down, we know we should be more attractive than.

[lcfc_forever]

Obviously when we were challenging for CL, not qualifying made a significant difference to the calibre of player that we could bring in, especially given the financial impact as well. 

 

But I don't think it will have such an impact this time as EL clearly isn't the same draw as CL. 

 

And the profile of the players we've been linked with suggests that's the case. 

[Deeg67]

1 hour ago, foxinsocks said:

When Rodgers says this stuff then cant he see he is undermining himself?

Some of his quotes to the mercury seem illl advised also. 

I am starting to think he is naive of doppy.

It's all about protecting the image.  Part of that strategy is giving himself pre-emptive excuses for failure.

[Ian Nacho]

I’d have to agree with him. Players aren’t going to join because of one season in the Europa; they’re going to join to be part of a bigger project. 

[coolhandfox]

13 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

It's all about protecting the image.  Part of that strategy is giving himself pre-emptive excuses for failure.

People spend too much time over thinking stuff.......

[An Sionnach]

Our targets are likely to be lower status than the PL as they have normally been in the past. There will be no marquee signings. So in a way he is right.

[whetstonefox]

If we fail to make Europe next season , we’ll also have to try and move players out, as our squad will be too big to sustain domestic football if we bring a few in. 

[An Sionnach]

3 minutes ago, whetstonefox said:

If we fail to make Europe next season , we’ll also have to try and move players out, as our squad will be too big to sustain domestic football if we bring a few in. 

Perez , Vestergaard and Bertrand can leave but only if we pay up their contracts. 

[fox_up_north]

1 hour ago, themightyfin said:

But is that the sort of player we want?

Players that can't get into their teams?

They may be one or two not getting games that could improve us but generally we want players that will improve our atarting 11.

 

 

 

By that statement I meant players in top 3 clubs across top European leagues who aren't getting into the side. If a lad who is struggling for games at Bayern and wanted to prove himself here, would we be against that? 

Edited 1 May 2022 by fox_up_north