Serious question (for more clubs than yours), what exactly are you expecting the new training ground to do for your team? Ours is fairly new but we still got knocked out of the CL
My take ... we are fast gaining a reputation for developing young talent but also beong anle to do that whilst competing at a high level in a top league ... a state of the art training complex in that mix makes us a good proposition for ambitious young talent ... we can't compete financially with the mega clubs for top, already developed, talent ... so our model has to be a conveyor belt that we might get 3 or 4 years out of ... combined with some older quality.
That's a very good assessment, thanks I just get a bit "confused" when supporters go on about new facility's such as training grounds or in some cases (Spuds) grounds. Players (good players) don't move to clubs/teams for a nice building, they move for money and hopefully success, anything else is nice trappings.
Agreed ... our top earners are also reportedly on 6 figures a week ... so that does come into the mix... plus every bedroom at the new training complex has a play station (actually that's true )
No not really ... Mahrez was fantastic for us and I would have loved him to have stayed ... but at least we sold him when it was right for us (time wise) and for an incredible profit ... Kante we lost due to a release clause and, again I would have loved to have kept him ... but we learned from that and, to the best of my knowledge, none of the current squad have a release clause ... Drinkwater and Maguire were both sold for ridiculous money if we are being honest ... Chilwell perhaps less so, in terms of the money ... but we certainly won't miss him with Pereira, Castagne, Justin and now Luke Thomas available for the full back / wing back positions ...
Possibly ... some of that is still potential tbf ... Harvey Barnes is looking better all the time but is obviously quite different to Mahrez in the way in which he plays ... Ndidi is a machine and can also play centre back (and much younger than Kante) ... we now have Maddison and Tielemans in place of Kante and Drinkwater in the engine room ... Castagne or Justin for Chillwell ... Fofana or Soyuncu for Maguire ... you judge...
You have good points with Soyuncu and Tielmans the rest are step downs. It just seems to be a mantra for Leicester supporters that every player is replaced by better
I'd say it's more an aspiration than a mantra ... and you think Drinkwater is better than Maddison? Chillwell always had his critics at the club ... I liked him ... but Castagne is arguably better and I love the way Justin is coming on ... Kante v Ndidi is debatable ... Kante was superb in his season with us and his first 2 at Chelsea ... but he was ineffective against City today and I would certainly not swap him for Ndidi right now ... ... but it's all about opinions...
Hmmm ... not sure I get you ... Tielemans is stripping a lot fitter and getting through more defensive duties ... and as a pairing I prefer him and Madders ... Kante was great destructively but nowhere near as effective creatively... Ndidi is on a par with Kante in terms of interceptions and tackles but also has more versatility ... I also suspect he would command a much higher transfer value than Kante in the current market ... I might be wrong
I would have put Ndidi as the Kante replacement but that's just me. Teilmans is the Drinkwater replacement, Maddison i wouldn't call a replacement just a great player who has come through.
The major difference is squad depth ... look at Citeh's bench tonight (and yours) ... that was our Achilles heel last season once we started to get injuries ... we now have a much stronger bench ... this squad is far better than the title winning squad in terms of overall quality ...but the title winning 'team' was a machine operating at maximum output week in week out ... VAR would probably have ****ed us right up because Huth and Morgan were akin to the Kray twins in terms of defensive technique ... but that would also have been the case for many central defenders in title winning sides before them ...
Diego must be the most pedantic twat on here ‘yeh but how can he be as fast when he runs with his shirt untucked?’ ‘yeh but what if he grew another leg, surely that means he’s got more weight to carry therefore not as good?’ Etc etc etc
