Rodgers opens up on Leicester City transfer struggles but 'won't go to war' with club

[RobHawk]

6 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Are we the only club in the Premier League not to have signed anyone yet? If so, then Rodgers is entitled to be upset, especially given signings by clubs below us like Villa and Brighton. That's a tough situation to deal with for any manager / coach.

 

At the same time Rudkin is more than entitled to push back and tell him that no major players have left the team either last season or so far this, and that he was backed with a shiny new Striker, a league winning midfielder, CB and LB cover and a winger on loan. All that in an effort to push for the Champions League and ended in a season where no European football was achieved at all. He should challenge Rodgers to get more out of his squad, especially with players like Praet and Soumare. And / or that he has to be patient and wait for players to be moved out before we bring anyone in.

 

 

 

 

That makes too much sense, lol. But I don't think it's million miles from where we are and I think that's what Rodgers is getting at. 

 

Personally hoping we can clear a few out and bring at least one player in to challenge the first team.

[MadsEmil]

If we can shift Soyuncu, Perez, Mendy, Hamza, Praet, Iversen and maybe Vestergaard and some other youngster like Hirst, that should still net us 35-40m at the very least while also freeing up a lot of space

 

Use that money to get Colwill and a RW on loan and to extend Youri.

 

Promote Wright, Nelson, Braybrooke (latter 2 wouldn't even take up slots)

 

[TommyK]

2 minutes ago, Collymore said:

Really good chance for Rodgers to bring some youth through and give it a chance in the squad. 

BR does not do that. The only time he has he's been forced too. Thomas as an example. KDH another. 

 

He had plenty of opportunity last year to blood young players and didn't take a chance in the premier. 

[Aus Fox]

1 hour ago, kristianity77 said:

For the frist time since we won the league I feel we are now being left behind in terms of the squad.  We had horrendous shortcomings last season that arent going to magically fix themselves this season.  We havent gotten anyone in, and we cant shift out the over paid players we shouldnt have signed in the first place.  To me, and I'm fine with it as we are who we are, but we are now just one of the dozen teams each season that could equally finish 8th as we could 17th.  We probably are too good to go down, but no where near good enough to challenge for the European spots again.

 

Personally, I think Rodgers will walk before hes pushed.  He says hes non plussed about the fact the club has gone stagnant, but he wont want a sacking to his name either when he has his own aspirations as a manager.  Whether thats beneficial to the club in the long term who knows.

We finished 8th last season, just four points off a European spot.

You can’t tell me having Fofana, Castagne, Evans, Justin and Ricardo fit for the start of the season we don’t easily get 4 extra points.

So not sure how anyone can say we are no where near good enough to challenge for Europe again next season.

By virtue of having everyone fit for the start of the season, and not playing twice a week every week. We have a far better squad going into the season than last season even without any signings.

[adam]

So every side in the league has strengthened apart from us. We're stuck with the same old players. Albrighton and perez on the right. An injury prone defence. Wilf already injured. Vardy another year older and tielemans would sign for anyone if an offer comes in for him. We're in a mess and to top it off Rodgers now has the perfect excuse because we haven't signed anyone.  Roll on August. 

[Aus Fox]

Just now, TommyK said:

BR does not do that. The only time he has he's been forced too. Thomas as an example. KDH another. 

 

He had plenty of opportunity last year to blood young players and didn't take a chance in the premier. 

Because you play your best XI, if an academy player isn’t better than what we have then why would you play them?

[adejo92]

1 minute ago, Aus Fox said:

Because you play your best XI, if an academy player isn’t better than what we have then why would you play them?

Because some of them were nothing games or games where we were winning / losing and the game was over.

 

Plenty opportunities to give game time to youngsters.

[Walkerfox]

1 minute ago, MadsEmil said:

If we can shift Soyuncu, Perez, Mendy, Hamza, Praet, Iversen and maybe Vestergaard and some other youngster like Hirst, that should still net us 35-40m at the very least while also freeing up a lot of space

 

Use that money to get Colwill and a RW on loan and to extend Youri.

 

Promote Wright, Nelson, Braybrooke (latter 2 wouldn't even take up slots)

 

Except that isn’t going to happen. Nobody wants those players because they’re on huge amounts of money and they’re not that good. We’re stuck with them.
 

The incompetence of the club in handing out massive contracts to mediocre, championship standard players has finally caught up with us and we’re now having to deal with the consequences. 

[Simoken]

Been saying it for a while, this current club model isnt suited for the PL anymore, we need to evolve or suffer.

[Aus Fox]

Just now, adejo92 said:

Because some of them were nothing games or games where we were winning / losing and the game was over.

 

Plenty opportunities to give game time to youngsters.

Give me some examples? Who would you have played? And who would you have left out? 
Keep in mind every time we lost with a weakened team people lost their shite!

Players like Alves need to be physically ready to play at this level, or you could do more harm than good.

[Wolfox]

I want some new shiny toys

[Hamilton Fox]

Just now, Aus Fox said:

Give me some examples? Who would you have played? And who would you have left out? 
Keep in mind every time we lost with a weakened team people lost their shite!

Players like Alves need to be physically ready to play at this level, or you could do more harm than good.

Agree.

 

Never mind if had played all those that youth players and lost a few more games, finished 16th then maybe he wouldn’t even have a job. maybe that’s why he wouldn’t want to do it?!
 

Then again, a lot of posters here probably wanted that as well…

[StriderHiryu]

7 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

We finished 8th last season, just four points off a European spot.

You can’t tell me having Fofana, Castagne, Evans, Justin and Ricardo fit for the start of the season we don’t easily get 4 extra points.

So not sure how anyone can say we are no where near good enough to challenge for Europe again next season.

By virtue of having everyone fit for the start of the season, and not playing twice a week every week. We have a far better squad going into the season than last season even without any signings.

All this is true, and I agree with it.

 

But I would say that refreshing a squad is important, so players don't rest on their laurels. Sir Alex was the best at doing that, his teams would win a league or cup double and he would buy new players for positions they were already good in, just to keep everyone on their toes. Man City are good at doing it too IMO, they didn't even need Grealish last year, but his signing made others in the squad up their game.

 

This current squad with just one major addition that hit the ground running could really push the team.

[Hitesh]

1 minute ago, Wolfox said:

I want some new shiny toys

Try this link...

[MadsEmil]

6 minutes ago, Walkerfox said:

Except that isn’t going to happen. Nobody wants those players because they’re on huge amounts of money and they’re not that good. We’re stuck with them.
 

The incompetence of the club in handing out massive contracts to mediocre, championship standard players has finally caught up with us and we’re now having to deal with the consequences. 

We've got interest in Praet, Perez, Vestergaard, Bouba, Hamza, Iversen and Cags

 

We just have to accept the fact we're not going to get the fees we wanted for them.

[TommyK]

12 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Because you play your best XI, if an academy player isn’t better than what we have then why would you play them?

They don't get better without experience at the level you playing at... obviously 

[Corky]

44 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Just read the OP again - what excuses has Rodgers made there?

The war quote will grab attention but the main thing is players going before coming in as we expected the case to be. That would be the same whoever the manager is.

[Aus Fox]

1 minute ago, StriderHiryu said:

All this is true, and I agree with it.

 

But I would say that refreshing a squad is important, so players don't rest on their laurels. Sir Alex was the best at doing that, his teams would win a league or cup double and he would buy new players for positions they were already good in, just to keep everyone on their toes. Man City are good at doing it too IMO, they didn't even need Grealish last year, but his signing made others in the squad up their game.

 

This current squad with just one major addition that hit the ground running could really push the team.

Absolutely totally agree, I think we all want that fresh face in the squad, however, with players returning from injuries, I don’t think the situation is as bad as some are making out.

The advantage big clubs like Man Utd and Man City have is they can improve their first 11.

When we have a first 11 with the likes of Tielemans, Maddison, Ndidi, Fofana, Castagne, Vardy etc. other than RW, it’s hard to find better first 11 players than we already have who would both come here and be affordable. The big clubs don’t have that problem.

[Dusty]

15 minutes ago, adam said:

So every side in the league has strengthened apart from us. We're stuck with the same old players. Albrighton and perez on the right. An injury prone defence. Wilf already injured. Vardy another year older and tielemans would sign for anyone if an offer comes in for him. We're in a mess and to top it off Rodgers now has the perfect excuse because we haven't signed anyone.  Roll on August. 

I might be misinterpreting it, but you’re saying perfect excuse as if it’s not valid or as if it’s something to be annoyed with him about?   

[jeffschlupp]

I have said before, I think the club have realised their mistake in giving Rodgers a little too much freedom and responsibility in dictating our entire direction, and are now arresting it back for the good of the long-term. Rodgers won't be here in 10 years, but King Power will.

 

They are not skint, they are just wary of making huge losses and saddling themselves with an unmanageable wage bill and squad bloat.

 

I'm still convinced BR will, by and large, get what he's after, and we will bring in 4-5 players by the end of the window.

[Walkerfox]

7 minutes ago, MadsEmil said:

We've got interest in Praet, Perez, Vestergaard, Bouba, Hamza, Iversen and Cags

 

We just have to accept the fact we're not going to get the fees we wanted for them.

“Interest” according to who? It’s very likely that none of them will be gone in this window. I wish I could be as optimistic as you on this!

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, SecretPro said:

I can see all sides to this argument regarding recruitment. 

 

What I will say is that if we stick with the sell to buy model then we will always sacrifice consistency and ambition. The owners have done wonders off the field, for the club and the city and their investment in the training facilities is a massive boost to a club of our size BUT if you aren't willing to invest in the squad without selling your best assets every year then you have to accept that we can only achieve so much and we're probably coming out of the other side of the best this club has ever been and ever will be under that model. 

...our infrastructure investment has us having to do the best we can with so little!!!

Arsenal went backward when developing their stadium, it left them having to compete with a reduced budget. Eventually, they splashed out £72m on a player. Whether we thought it was a good purchase or not, diverting money away from the playing side in the short term does compromise the team.

[LFox99]

1 minute ago, Walkerfox said:

“Interest” according to who? It’s very likely that none of them will be gone in this window. I wish I could be as optimistic as you on this!

Praet: Torino (theyre lowballing us but it is what it is), and apparently Napoli 
Hamza: West Brom and Boro both inquired for him
Iversen: Preston and Boro are just two of the clubs who want him in the championship
Hirst: Pompey want him (but are unlikely to match our 2-3m asking price), other L1 and championship clubs also interested
Vestergaard: Turkish club apparently (and while I'm obviously wary of the source, it doesn't seem outlandish)
Soumaré: Monaco have been reliably linked
Perez: Betis, Sociedad, Villareal 
Soyuncu: Inter, (just need to wait for the Skriniar sale to go through which should be soon given Bremer is now basically confirmed. Torino getting the money for Bremer could in turn also finally make Torino move for Praet)
 

[lcfc_forever]

Lots of overreaction here.

 

People are rightly pointing out that the Bertrand and Vestergaard signings are on Rodgers and Congleton, appears the Soumare transfer to was more influenced by our highly regarded analysts team.
 

There is a defence for the Bertrand transfer at the time he was signed, lots of hindsight bias here. But the Vestergaard signing was unforgivable, just makes little sense. 
 

That said, any manager wants to refresh their squad and keep adding quality. We’re the only team in the PL not to bring in a single player yet so you get the frustration. 
 

Hopefully we can still bring in at least a CB and/or RW, if we move a couple of players on. 

[splinterdream]

I've said it before and now I'm certain, Top has no financial powers and therefore we are skint. Football clubs won't always be self sustainable, we've been lucky with transfers and league results but with some poor recruitment, poor contract negotiations and poor results we're now told cope with what you have, we're literally Burnley.