Championship 🏆 2025/26

[Pliskin]

On 08/04/2025 at 22:12, LcFc_Smiv said:

Money bags Birmingham confirm their place in the Champ for next season, no doubt with half an eye of a double promotion.

Ipswich, Birmingham 1 and 2 for me. I’m expecting Birmingham to storm it. 
 

It was absolutely ****ing imperative we stayed up this season, we’ve ****ed ourselves. 

Edited 12 April by Pliskin

[Noahfence]

3 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

               Jakub

Woyo, Nelson, Okoli, JJ

        Ricardo, Winks

 Fatawu, Bilal, Mavididi

               New ST

 

Monga, Alves, Evans coming off the bench every game

Be interesting to see what happens with the striker position. Daka will hopefully leave and even if Vardy stays he needs to be back up. 
 

Bilal, Alves, Fatawu, Mavididi along with Potentially Monga & Evans rotating minutes would be an exciting crop of forwards. 
 

 

[moore_94]

4 minutes ago, Bilo said:

I'd go with Sargent from Norwich or, if they don't go up, Latte Lath from Boro.

I agree with Sargent

 

Latte Lath has already left Boro unfortunately!

[Bilo]

7 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

I agree with Sargent

 

Latte Lath has already left Boro unfortunately!

Ah, nuts. 

 

Prefer JS anyway.

[LCFCJohn]

We won’t be signing Josh Sargent and I don’t think we should. He screams (to me) good in spells in the Championship but that being his limit.

 

Anyway, he has a contract to 2028. Transfer Market values him at £15mill. I can’t see us forking that out.

[FosseSpark]

The literal only saving grace will be if there is any way we can build the squad around

 

Stolarcyk

Nelson Okoli Coady Ricardo Thomas

Cartwright Winks Oluku

Alves McAteer Briggs Fatawu ElKhannous Mavididi Monga (even if just back on loan from Man City)

Evans, 2 new strikers

 

Hermansen Ward Iversen Justin Vestergaard Souttar Kristiansen Faes Soumare Ndidi Vardy Daka Ayew BDR have had their day in a city shirt i think

[Steve Earle]

Stolarczyk

New Free Transfer GK

Bausor

 

Ricardo

Coulibally

Nelson 

Souttar

Okoli

Coady

Thomas

Aluko

 

Skipp

Braybrooke

New CDM

Cartwright

 

Fatawu

Monga

McAteer

El Khannouss

Alves

Mavididi

Ayew

Evans

 

New ST

New ST

 

 

New ST being the obvious problem. Vardy has to go, so, surely does Daka. Evans might be a decent second or, more likely, third choice striker. I’d expect him and Ayew to cover third striker between them.

 

Whatever budget we have has to be invested here, and a starter in MF

Edited 13 April by Steve Earle

[niyaminski]

2 hours ago, FosseSpark said:

Hermansen Ward Iversen Justin Vestergaard Souttar Kristiansen Faes Soumare Ndidi Vardy Daka Ayew BDR

Please never put Jamie Vardy in the same list as any of them others again.

 

The goat deserves more than to be banded with BDR and Ayew and Vestergaard…

Edited 13 April by niyaminski

[LCFCJohn]

I definitely think it is more about the outgoings. I really don’t think we need much in terms of incomings, but they need to be targeted and the right positions, none of this wasting money on positions we don’t need, and the right mentality.

 

GK

Stolarcryk

New

Youth GK as third choice

 

Sell Hemansen, release Iverson ans chase Ward the f*** out the door!

 

RB

Coulibaly

Aluko

 

Sell JJ for whatever we can get. Unsure what will happen with Ricardo.

 

CB

Nelson

Okoli

Souttar

 

Ideally rid of Faes, Vestergaard and Coady but probably unrealistic so I’d take two of the three going if one was definitely Faes. Probably rather keep Coady as fourth choice over Vestergaard. Four should be enough, extra numbers to come from the youth teams unless there is a good deal on a prospect for the future to bring in.

 

LB

Key position of focus. Sell Kristiansen. Thomas, sell if a deal is worth it. But we need two for that position and I’m not keen on the right footers square legs so happy to bring a new face in and have Thomas stay. See how he does in the last year of his contract.

 

CM

Skipp - will stay as he will be to expensive to move on.

Cartwright

 

I move the rest on, Soumare, Ndidi, Winks. There’s Choudhury too, who I think would be good at this level so would be ok him being in the squad. Probably Braybrooke too as he is unlikely to make it but he deserves to play. I would encourage offers for all these and see where we are. We could definitely need a more forward thinking partner, who offers goals and assists to partner Skipp, basically like KDH. 

 

Could Bilal even play further back?
 

RW

Fatawu

Evans

 

CAM

Bilal

 

LW

Mavididi

Alves

 

Unknowns are Monga and Bilal staying as well as of Alves can play as well down the middle. If the answer to all is yes, I think you move Alves central with Bilal and Monga on the left in terms of having two for each position. 

As above, if Bilal could be more a central midfielder, that could address that issue but we would need a new number 10 type.
 

ST

start again I guess. Vardy needs to go sadly, his wages are a burden and he isn’t offering enough on or off the pitch. Daka, if we can make money (PSR profit not on his original value), move him on.

 

That could leave us needing:

1 x GK

1 x LB

1 x CM (forward thinking with G & A’s) - could need another for this position subject to outgoings

1/2 x ST (depends if Daka goes)

 

Really not that much when you look at it. When you map possible starting 11, there aren’t many holes.

 

Stolarcryk

Coulibaly/Ricardo

Nelson

Okoli

Thomas?

 

Skipp

New - or Bilal? 

 

Fatawu

Bilal - Alves if Bilal drops back

Mavididi

 

New

 

 

 

Edited 13 April by LCFCJohn

[Claudio Fannieri]

Given we won’t have the funds to buy a quality striker, personally if we can get Vardy to accept a greatly reduced contract say £25k - 30k basic and then appearance and performance related bonuses, I would keep him, use him as an impact sub and rotational starter, similarly the way Enzo did, yes his powers are waning but is it any wonder when he is being flogged for 90 minutes most weeks, he has been chronically mismanaged and over used this season, it has been appalling. 

 

But I think if managed well, he can still contribute and also act as a great mentor to the youngsters such as Evans so they can be eased into the squad and team. 
 

If Vards goes we are really going to struggle as we need to replace him and at a time we have little or no financial headroom to operate, this way if we can navigate our way through next season, we can then potentially invest in a new striker the following season, when we will have more opportunity to spend money.  

[Leicester_Loyal]

Hamza still has 2 years on his contract, about 50k a week as well We've got to be the worst run club in the country by miles.

 

He is never worth those wages and we need to get rid of him ASAP, but no-one will take him off us when he's earning that amount, so we'll be stuck with him. He's a decent Championship player tbf, but not for 50k a week, mental money.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

12 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Hamza still has 2 years on his contract, about 50k a week as well We've got to be the worst run club in the country by miles.

 

He is never worth those wages and we need to get rid of him ASAP, but no-one will take him off us when he's earning that amount, so we'll be stuck with him. He's a decent Championship player tbf, but not for 50k a week, mental money.

Surely a relegation clause in that new contract he signed.

[Leicester_Loyal]

9 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Surely a relegation clause in that new contract he signed.

He signed the new contract when we were back in the Championship, September 2023, it was rumoured to be 50k then

[ceebeefox]

7 hours ago, niyaminski said:

Please never put Jamie Vardy in the same list as any of them others again.

 

The goat deserves more than to be banded with BDR and Ayew and Vestergaard…

And he’d bang in 20 next season!

[Sol thewall Bamba]

I'm still relatively confident we can have a positive season next season with what we have (minus the moping dossers like Faes, Soumare, Winks, Vestegaard etc), and a few sensible additions.

 

The major issue to solve is the fact we've gone without a striker this season. Vards is done, which is absolutely fine with me and Daka isn't a professional footballer so that's an issue.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

11 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

He signed the new contract when we were back in the Championship, September 2023, it was rumoured to be 50k then

Haha Christ. Every time I feel the slightest bit of optimism I'm immediately reminded we're run by idiots.

[FOXYTALK]

Get Poku from Peterborough on a free as a back up striker. 20k a week should secure his services

[Bilo]

42 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Hamza still has 2 years on his contract, about 50k a week as well We've got to be the worst run club in the country by miles.

 

He is never worth those wages and we need to get rid of him ASAP, but no-one will take him off us when he's earning that amount, so we'll be stuck with him. He's a decent Championship player tbf, but not for 50k a week, mental money.

That probably means that we have to make the most of a bad lot. As a midfield spoiler in a combative, counterattacking side seeking to make it difficult for teams, he might do OK. 

[Bilo]

10 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

I'm still relatively confident we can have a positive season next season with what we have (minus the moping dossers like Faes, Soumare, Winks, Vestegaard etc), and a few sensible additions.

 

The major issue to solve is the fact we've gone without a striker this season. Vards is done, which is absolutely fine with me and Daka isn't a professional footballer so that's an issue.

Bringing through Evans is an option, but unfair to place excessive pressure on him as the main man at his age.

 

With those players' wages off the books, and reasonable fees for Hermansen and Faes as well as parachute payments, we could be in the market for a decent striker.

[OntarioFox]

2 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

Given we won’t have the funds to buy a quality striker, personally if we can get Vardy to accept a greatly reduced contract say £25k - 30k basic and then appearance and performance related bonuses, I would keep him, use him as an impact sub and rotational starter, similarly the way Enzo did, yes his powers are waning but is it any wonder when he is being flogged for 90 minutes most weeks, he has been chronically mismanaged and over used this season, it has been appalling. 

 

But I think if managed well, he can still contribute and also act as a great mentor to the youngsters such as Evans so they can be eased into the squad and team. 
 

If Vards goes we are really going to struggle as we need to replace him and at a time we have little or no financial headroom to operate, this way if we can navigate our way through next season, we can then potentially invest in a new striker the following season, when we will have more opportunity to spend money.  

If we get a new DOF, that's the point at which I want negotiations with Vardy opening. If Rudkin is in that room with him, the contract he'll get will be way too generous given the state of our wider squad.

 

It would be typical LCFC to offer him a 70-80k contract, then sack Rudkin, then have the new DOF come in and publicly state we don't have much money to play with due to PSR / FFP.

Edited 13 April by OntarioFox

[Finn Claw II]

We have a lot of players with 12 months left, it’s focusing on moving a lot of that dross on.  the benefit of 12 months and us being relegated is at least clubs know that we’ll likely accept low fees for that lot.

 

I’d be happy with a young loan striker from one of the big teams perhaps part of  the Mads sale or a bit of goodwill for Monga. 
 

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Ricky P as him and Abdul haven’t been tarnished by this season but both are saleable.

[Claudio Fannieri]

Mads and BEK will be the ones to leave to help raise funds and mitigate any PSR risks for this season and next, one will go before the end of June and the other beginning of July. 
 

Mads will probably raise £25m-£35m of clear profit whilst BEK will probably bring in £15m-20m of profit. 
 

players like Wilf, Faes, Soumare, Daka, Vesty, Winks, VK hopefully due to reducing book values will attract some interest even if it’s for minimal profit but shifts off big wages. 
 

With Justin and Riccy P I wouldn’t be shocked if a few mid/lower prem clubs like West Ham, Everton, Palace or even the promoted clubs come in with modest offers up to £5m given they no longer have a book value and would be decent squad options.

 

I would resist the temptation to cash in on any of our up and coming academy prospects unless ridiculous offers come in. 
 

I would look to promote from within the academy where ever possible and hopefully supplemented with some clever and shrewd recruitment where possible. 
 

 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

12 minutes ago, Bilo said:

Bringing through Evans is an option, but unfair to place excessive pressure on him as the main man at his age.

 

With those players' wages off the books, and reasonable fees for Hermansen and Faes as well as parachute payments, we could be in the market for a decent striker.

We can't pin the club's short term future on a 16 year old. 

 

We need to do what we've not done in about 8 years and actually bring a proper striker in

[FOXYTALK]

There are also plenty of game for Evans to play next season and used sparingly including cup games. Would like to see in the squad all season. Maybe 15-20x mins ideally when there is no pressure. 

[Finn Claw II]

You all know the 1st game next season will line up something like this.

 

Stolarcryk

 

Justin

Vesty

Coady

Thomas 

 

Winks

Skipp

 

BDR

Mcateer

Mavi

 

Daka