2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Jordan Blackwell)
Leicester City’s focus is now on “shaping their future” and preparing the squad for the 2025-26 campaign in the Championship. But what might that squad look like? The final six matches of this season will give clues, but every City fan will have an idea of how they want the playing group to shape up. Here, we take a look at how a dream City squad might look for the new campaign.
We've limited the number of new signings to nine, the same amount that City made when they were last relegated to the Championship. In fantasy land, Mads Hermansen stays. But realistically, the Danish goalkeeper will be sold this summer with City needing to balance their finances to cope with the slash to TV and sponsorship revenue, and to help meet the guidelines set out by the Profit and Sustainability Rules.
As one of their most profitable assets, Hermansen likely leaves. But that would not be terrible news, as Jakub Stolarczyk looks ready to be number one. With Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen out of contract, the goalkeeping department will need a makeover.
Stolarczyk was playing League Two football before he stepped up to be Hermansen’s deputy in the Championship, so City could look to the EFL for a young keeper to be the Pole’s back-up. Wigan’s Sam Tickle is highly-rated, but may be expecting first-team football if he steps up to the Championship. In League Two, Carlisle’s 21-year-old Gabriel Breeze ranks third for save percentage this season, and could be a project to work on.
City would then need an experienced campaigner to complete the goalkeeping unit at third-choice. John Ruddy is out of contract at Newcastle this summer, while Tom Heaton looks to be leaving Manchester United, and those are the kinds of keepers that would fit the bill. At full-back, City look well-set.
Ricardo Pereira and Woyo Coulibaly can be the two options at right-back, while James Justin and Luke Thomas can be the options at left-back, allowing Victor Kristiansen to depart, as he did on loan the last time City dropped to the Championship. Keeping Bade Aluko, the 18-year-old full-back on the bench at Brighton, in the first-team squad would be helpful too, and would free Ricardo up to play in midfield from time to time. At centre-back, there’s more work to be done.
Ben Nelson surely returns from his loan at Oxford and starts for City, while the passion shown by Caleb Okoli in his goal at Brighton means he will have plenty of fans at City. Moving Wout Faes, Jannik Vestergaard and Conor Coady on would free up space for a refresh at the heart of the defence. Over the past few months, City have been linked with 6ft 4in, 20-year-old Japan international Kota Takai, who plays for Kawasaki Frontale, and the club could follow a recent trend among EFL clubs in bringing in a player from the J League.
They’ve also been linked to former Brighton defender Bernardo, who will be a free agent this summer and has performed well at Bochum in the Bundesliga this term. The Brazilian is left footed, and so that would give City a different option at the back. Besides that, Harry Souttar may get another chance under a new manager, while Swansea’s Harry Darling may be worth a look as a ball-playing defender who is out of contract this summer.
This is another area that may need an overhaul if the likes of Harry Winks, Wilfred Ndidi, and Boubakary Soumare do not stick around. Oliver Skipp looks set to stay and may be able to make his mark in the Championship, but City might need some big signings to go alongside him. Middlesbrough’s Hayden Hackney is the best passer in the Championship and looks destined for the Premier League.
If City can convince him they can get him there, he would be a marquee deal to pull off this summer. City have been linked to defensive midfielder Shea Charles over the past few months, the Northern Irish midfielder racking up the tackles and interceptions at Sheffield Wednesday, on loan from Southampton. If the Saints feel they are well-set in midfield as they try to get back to the Premier League, then maybe the 21-year-old becomes an option for City.
One more midfield all-rounder would complete the group. Looking further afield, Dogucan Haspolat could be an under-the-radar pick-up. The Turkish-Dutch midfielder currently captains Westerlo in Belgium, and ranks in the top five in the division for key passes, tackles, and interceptions.
He’s 25 years old, and so coming into his prime too. City may not need any signings at all here. They already have a lot of very talented players out wide and in the no.
10 slot, so it’s just going to be a matter of keeping them. Bilal El Khannouss is the big one. It feels like he’s too good for the Championship but to make a significant PSR profit on him, City are going to need a sum approaching £30m and there may not be clubs willing to pay that.
If City can convince him to stay for another season, the Moroccan can be the creative heart of the team. There will be plenty of players around him to link up with. Will Alves will return from his loan at Cardiff and could be competition for El Khannouss in a central role, or could play out wide.
Stephy Mavididi and Kasey McAteer are great options to have on the wings, while Abdul Fatawu will be working back to fitness. Jake Evans will come into greater prominence, while if City can also keep Jeremy Monga and not lose him to Manchester City or another big side, the 15-year-old will be another exciting player the club can call on. There really could be a wealth of exciting, attacking talents at the manager’s disposal, with the likes of Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid not required.
On an emotional level, everybody of a City persuasion will want Jamie Vardy to stay, but the club have to consider if it’s good business sense to have a 38-year-old as their lead striker for a promotion charge. If City chose to keep Vardy, he would score goals in the Championship with the talent around him. If they chose to go another way and look further to the future, signing a player like Haji Wright from Coventry would give them an all-around excellent striker at Championship level, one 11 years Vardy’s junior, and who could be ready to take the step up to the Premier League.
Like Hackney, he would cost a decent sum and would be the second marquee signing of the window. Every Championship club will surely be chasing Wycombe’s Richard Kone, who has scored 18 goals this season in League One, just over 12 months since being picked out of non-league. The 21-year-old’s unusual route to professional football means his ceiling is unknown, but for a club like City, he could be someone to hone and develop, and someone who may have the potential to make it to the top.
With Evans also then able to play up front, as well as on the wing, City would then have plenty of promising options able to lead the line. How the final 25-man squad looks Stolarczyk, Breeze, Heaton, Ricardo, Coulibaly, Justin, Thomas, Aluko, Nelson, Okoli, Takai, Bernardo, Skipp, Hackney, Charles, Haspolat, El Khannouss, Alves, Fatawu, McAteer, Mavididi, Monga, Evans, Wright, Kone..
