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After their title-winning exploits in 2015/16 under Italian Claudio Ranieri, Leicester City stumbled in the next season resulting in the manager getting sacked. The board then appointed assistant manager Craig Shakespeare for the remainder of the season and there has been no looking back since.
This is Shakespeare's first full season at the helm, with him procuring five new faces to bolster the squad.
Arrivals
1. Vicente Iborra
Having already strengthened the centre of the park by bringing in Sevilla captain Vicente Iborra for £15 million, Leicester gladly agreed to sell Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for a sum of £34.63 million. If Iborra can adapt quickly to the physicality of the English league and impart his European experience to the young players in the squad, he will be a great signing for the club. Iborra managed to score 7 goals last season for Sevilla and if he can replicate the same form for his new team, Leicester could well be on their way to finishing in the top half of the table.
Grade -7/10
2. Aleksandar Dragovic and Harry Maguire
Age seems to be catching up with both their centre-backs from the title-winning season Robert Huth and Wes Morgan. Subsequently, Craig Shakespeare has done a more than decent job of strengthening the centre-back position by securing Harry Maguire's signature from Hull for £12.52 million. The tall central defender also has an eye for goal.
He scored twice last season and provided 2 assists for Hull and played a major role in helping the Tigers keep 4 clean sheets.
Another shrewd signing to look forward to is Aleksandar Dragovic who has valuable Champions league experience and is on loan from Bayer Leverkusen. He started 15 league games last season and helped in keeping 5 clean sheets. Both these centre-backs will provide much needed pace in the heart of Leicester's defense that was lacking last season.
Harry Maguire-8/10
Aleksandar Dragovic-7/10
3. Kelechi Iheanacho
Kelechi Iheanacho impressed under Pellegrini but was not given many chances last season under Pep and the arrival of Jesus only worsened his chances of getting regular playing time. Last season under Pep, the Nigerian made 20 appearances and scored 4 goals and 3 assists for City.
It was a good decision for both the clubs and the player to make the transfer. Only time will tell if Iheanacho can replicate the form that he showed under Pellegrini. Iheanacho was bought for a sum of £25.31 Million. The 20-year-old is similar to Vardy in terms of pace and already has Premier League experience and Leicester fans will be hoping that he hits the ground running.
Grade-7/10
4. Eldin Jakupovic
With the biggies of the league circling around Peter Schmeichel, Jakupovic was a good signing for £2.10 Million from Hull City. He impressed when he was at Hull last season making 22 appearance and keeping 5 clean sheets for the Tigers and also saved two penalties.The only problem in his case is as to how much game time he will get.
Grade-6/10
5. Sam Hughes
Sam Hughes was signed from Chester FC for a meager sum of £145,000, who is an upcoming prospect and can play at the back and as a defensive midfielder. It is difficult to gauge Sam Hughes as he is a relatively unknown quantity but he will definitely learn a lot playing under the watchful eye of Craig Shakespeare.
Grade: 6/10
Departures:
Eight players have left the Leicester city squad namely Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea, Tom Lawrence to Derby, Ron-Robert Zieler to VFB Stuttgart, Bartosz Kapustka to SC Freiburg, Nampalys Mendy to OGC Nice. Michael Cain and Marcin Wasilewski left as free agents while Molla Wague returned back to parent club Granada.
Danny Drinkwater was the most high profile transfer for Leicester as he played a major role in their revival last season under Craig Shakespeare scoring a goal and an assist in the latter half of last season.
We cannot leave out Riyad Mahrez when we talk about Leicester City’s transfers. Mahrez was subject to a lot of bids after the title winning 15/16 season but since then has not matched the levels of performance produced during the title winning season. Although he only managed 6 goals and 3 assists last season, he was subject to a bid from a Roma but the transfer did not materialize. Although this season he has shown glimpses of his talent, it largely remains a mystery as to why he is still at Leicester and is only a matter of time that he gets snapped up by a club playing in the Champions or the Europa League.
Leicester City had also agreed a deal with Sporting Lisbon for Adrien Silva. However, the Foxes had to request for a 2 hour extension to seal the deal and are now waiting to see whether or not FIFA will sanction the transfer.
Verdict:
Overall, Leicester have spent £53.44 Million but managed to recoup £43.75 Million. Leicester have had a pretty successful transfer window and it remains to be seen if this success off the pitch can be transformed into points this season.
Overall Grade-7.5/10
