Seventeen-and-a-half million pounds, 304 Premier League appearances, 20 England caps and one Championship title. Leicester City’s second-tier assault has begun in earnest with two more headline acquisitions.
By virtue of nine consecutive top-flight campaigns, a Premier League title and five top-10 finishes in that time, the Foxes are Leeds United’s biggest pre-season rivals for promotion. Yes, their squad will be dismantled like most relegated outfits, but they will have the finances and motivation to pull together a high-end squad.
Manchester City’s freshly-honed coaching brain, Enzo Maresca, was hired more than a fortnight ago to oversee the whole thing. With the Italian’s feet comfortably under the table, Leicester have turned the screw again with the additions of Harry Winks and Conor Coady.
Coady was good enough for England’s World Cup squad just seven months ago yet now, still only 30, he drops into the second tier with the kind of leadership and experience which should shine in the Championship. Winks may not have been involved with the Three Lions since November 2020, but he can match Coady’s 10 caps.
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The midfielder, who was memorably turned down by Marcelo Bielsa as Leeds toiled through the January 2022 transfer window, may have seen his stock fall in recent years, but he should run games at this lower level. Crucially, both Winks and Coady are in the building before pre-season starts for Leicester.
As was the case when the King Power Stadium outfit appointed their head coach, these transfers shine the spotlight a little more harshly on the Whites. While everyone following the Leeds news cycle is fully aware, by now, of the reasons for the absence of any club announcements, they don’t stop the clock ticking.
More than three weeks have passed since United confirmed a takeover agreement between 49ers Enterprises and Aser Ventures without formal ratification, leaving the club in limbo with Andrea Radrizzani’s name above the door. Pre-season starts tomorrow and, at the time of writing, a head coach is yet to be appointed, let alone a single signing made.
No matter how confident Paraag Marathe at el may feel about the work they are doing behind the scenes, it’s understandably difficult for the more anxious corners of the fanbase to avoid concern about rival clubs’ advances. The new season starts five weeks today and there is a mountain of announcements to make on the work being done behind closed doors.
Leeds can have all the faith in the world with the ducks they are putting in a row along Elland Road’s corridors, but that doesn’t ease the cold, hard reality time is needed for new faces to integrate and acclimatise. United will stick to their processes, follow the route their analysis and judgement brings them, but outcomes next May will show how this perceived head start in Leicester changed things.
