... the squad next season will be better ... in terms of its' monetary value ... it will be the most expensive ever assembled in our history ... that doesn't of course equate to success ... Raheem Sterling cost City more than the cost of our entire first team ... still if they win the CL they might argue such cost was justified
You're giving Ranieri credit for Makelele? ****ing hell mate, there's praise and then there's down right delusion.
I'm sure even a CL win couldn't justify such a ridiculous purchase, you only have to look at De Bruyne for the gulf in value. My bad, when you said your squad will be 'better', I thought you meant 'better', not 'more expensive'.
... I'm a realist on that front ... although the romantic in me hopes that they will at least want to give it one go together in the CL ... but whilst economics do dictate it is dog-eat-dog ... our key players are on 4 or 5 year deals ... so we can expect top dollar for them .. so, say we lose Mahrez for £50 m to Barca ... do we sit on the cash? ...or offer £30m and the promise of CL football to Saido Mane at Sothampton or £20m for your Wahbi Kazri? (who I really like)... as I said, it's dog eat dog .. and whilst some won't like it, we have just won a windfall in Pedigree Petfood vouchers ...
... there is also knowledge of football ... "In the summer of 2003, he signed for Chelsea for £16.8 million, where then manager Claudio Ranieri proclaimed that Makélelé would be the "battery" of the team.[9]"
I think it's fair to say that any first team players that you lose will be replaced with new acquisitions but I would keep the first team as intact as possible. If I was a Leicester player I'd definitely want to stay at the club and see what we could achieve but maybe that's just me
No problem ... it will cost us shed loads of course ... but that will be offset by the commercial income that next season will generate ... and our owners business is booming ... partly due to our success ...
... worth keeping in mind ... In Praise of Ranieri By Gindy Singh - Dec 15, 2015 Claudio was the architect of the modern Chelsea and creating the wider legacy. “Yes, that is correct,” Ranieri (said in a Guardian interview) before adding: “I chose Petr Cech and had been to Eindhoven to take Arjen Robben and I suggested Didier Drogba.” Ranieri also signed Lampard, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson, Makele, Gallas and Crespo amongst others, the axis of the team that Mourinho took in his debut English season to the title in the 04/05 season. ... irrespective of whether we win the title or not Claudio is guaranteed an incredible reception from the Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge in our last game of the season
I'm a United fan, he's certainly not my Wahbi Khazri and I'd be delighted if you got Mane because it would mean we didn't get him
I didn't dispute his abilty to pick a good player, I love the guy actually, but he never developed Makelele, that guy was a finished product.
Well good luck for the season anyhow mate, I hope you win it. Obviously whilst we can still get top 4 I want us to win. If we lose, I guess it'll be a little bitter-sweet, we'd have blown our chances of top 4 but you'd virtually have the title in the bag. Danny Simpson up against Martial... should be interesting, maybe you'll play two RB's.
You mean Mourinho? No I don't. I am incredibly scared of what will happen to our youth if he turns up, I'm still refusing to believe he is our next manager. Plenty of positives to take away from him being our manager, but our academy means everything to us and we can't afford to lose sight of that. If he does come and gives youth a chance, I'd be happy. I don't want any manager given a £300m warchest to spend on tussy ****e like Di Maria ever again though.
Agreed Do you think LVG deserves some credit for bringing them through, or do you think it was inadvertent? Personally I respect him for spending the £££ on Martial. Ballsy thing to buy tomorrow's player when success is demanded yesterday
Simpson has been absolutely superb this season ... and I was one of his biggest critics based on his appearances under Nigel Pearson last ... we tend to play Mahrez on the right in front of Simpson so he doesn't necessarily get the best defensive cover ... so we'll probably go with making Martial spend most of his time helping your full-bcak cope with Mahrez ... has worked well so far this season ...
I've got a lot of good things to say about LVG mate, he's an incredible manager and has an unbelievable record against the top teams, I just can't see why he cannot motivate this team to beat the 'lesser' teams. A lot of the changes were forced on him, but still I give him credit for showing them how he wants them to play. He persisted with Lingard when the majority of fans inside OT had lost patience with JL, now he's a crowd favourite. LVG knows more than I do, I won't be devastated if he has to see out his final year, I just won't understand the benefit of it. Martial is incredible, he's for me, in my biased opinion, the best player in this league now he's found his stride.
Leicester are fortunate in that our key players (Vardy, Mahrez, Kante, Huth, Morgan and Schmeichel) have been almost injury and suspension free. But we're well aware that we'd need to invest (wisely, not necessarily heavily) to keep competing. Providing we keep our main players, i'd expect us to sign another striker, winger, central midfielder, right sided defender and a back-up keeper.
