April 16, 2015, Leicester City were at the bottom of the Premier league table and were favourites to be relegated. Fast forward to May 3, 2016, they are crowned as the Champions of England after Spurs failed to win against Chelsea. Things tend to change so quickly. At the start of the season who would have thought that they would defeat the likes to Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea to win the title. Even Leicester fans wouldn't have dreamt about this in the wildest of their dreams!
Claudio Ranieri who was sacked by Roman Abramovich claiming that he didn't have the potential to win the Premier League. But 11 years later, Ranieri has proven Abramovich wrong by winning the League title with the team starting the season as the favourites to drop into the Championship.
A world where money rules, it is hard to believe that a team whose starting XI cost merely £54 million would end up winning the Premier League! The cost of Manchester City's starting XI is around £400 million. Surely this is nothing less than a fairy-tale! But where to Leicester go from here?
Europe calling for Leicester City
This year Leicester didn't have the distraction of playing European matches and even in the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup they were knocked out in the 3rd round and quarterfinals respectively.
In truth, they didn't really prioritise those competitions once they believed that they had a real chance of winning the Premier League. But next season will be different altogether. They'll be in the UEFA Champions League and competing with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich etc.
Leicester would also have to play maybe twice or thrice a week. Surely they would sign new players but there will be suitors trying to lure their best players in their team. Maybe even this summer could defy their next season. Any player would dream of playing for the best team in the world. But can they retain their core players?
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Even if they end up selling the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Jamie Vardy and N'Golo Kante etc. it would not be for a lower price. They can cash in on these players and buy new players but this could be a more risky alternative. They could end up spending their money in the same way Tottenham and Liverpool did.
It's not that they won't be able to repeat their heroics next season but the circumstances would be different. They can still win it with this squad. Even Atletico Madrid challenge for three titles every year with a squad which is not so big.
It's just about preventing their players from getting injured and fatigued. Rotations could be key for them next season and Ranieri also nicknamed “Tinkerman” can work wonders for them.
Also read: Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy named Premier League player of the season
Everyone will analyse the tactics and will try and find a solution for it. Though their chances of European glory are not as high as it would be difficult for them to play against the likes of BBC and MSN and Bayern Munich who are teams with much higher quality than Leicester.
Another possibility is that they finish 3rd in the group stage of Champions League and qualify for Europa League which won't be a bad result either. They could conquer Europe too. Maybe they shouldn't yet be considered as one of the Europe's elite clubs but they shouldn't be written off so early either. Football is a sport of uncertainty.
While domestic titles are more realistic than the Champions League, they would be favourites to win it next season but will face tough competition from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City and Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. Arsenal shouldn't be written off either and Spurs could again be the dark horses.
The competition would surely get tougher but Leicester should not be written off by any means. They are the champions of England and they’ll never give up so early. That's why they're are rightly known as the Fearless Foxes!
