Leicester City’s summer of stasis threatens to unravel progress under Brendan Rodgers

Leicester are one of only two clubs in Europe’s top-five leagues not to have signed a player so far this summer, and plans for a squad overhaul have had to be shelved

Youri Tielemans remains at the club despite interest from Arsenal (Getty Images)

New York City FC are aware of interest, their head coach said. Nick Cushing admitted Valentin Castellanos has admirers. The 2021 MLS Golden Boot winner is tipped to join Girona, possibly on a loan deal after joining NYC’s sister club Manchester City. And if the Argentinian forward does go to Italy, it would leave Leicester City on their own as the only club in Europe’s five major leagues not to sign anyone this summer.

The Premier League’s spending this window has topped £1bn, but no arrivals are imminent at the King Power Stadium. A club widely admired for their transfer business in recent years have done none, beyond releasing third-choice goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic. Welcome to the paradox of Leicester. They have signed no players and yet they have too many. Brendan Rodgers may have imagined a revolving door, as perhaps five came in and eight went out, when he had the scene for an overhaul. Instead, the exit has been jammed, also preventing anyone from entering.

They may be encountering an increasingly familiar problem for Premier League purchasers who have stockpiled players in recent years: others, especially abroad, are reluctant to pay the prices and the wages to rid them of the unwanted. In accidental fashion, Leicester have become the division’s continuity club. The faces are all familiar. With no European football, and with so many pedigree players that the £13m signing Nampalys Mendy was not even named in their Premier League squad for the first half of last season, the intention now was for a slimmed-down squad. Instead, they still lack room on the pitch and the wage bill alike for newcomers.

In the immediacy, that offers an advantage. “The competition in the squad at the moment is incredible,” said midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. “We play 11 v 11 games in training and you’d think it’s like a Premier League game because the standard of both teams is really good.”

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrating in pre-season with Jamie Vardy (Getty Images)

Indeed, Leicester fielded a plausible starting 11 in the top flight when beating Preston 2-1 on Saturday. Yet a couple of hours earlier, an alternative team, featuring Youri Tielemans, Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Patson Daka, Caglar Soyuncu and Timothy Castagne, had defeated Derby.

A slick understanding was apparent at Deepdale, with Dewsbury-Hall providing a defence-splitting pass for Jamie Vardy to open the scoring and James Maddison showing similar incision to find Harvey Barnes when he struck the post. While others are searching for chemistry, Leicester may already have it. “I feel like everybody in the squad has played with each other before, we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Dewsbury-Hall said. “It is about building relationships on the pitch, that’s when you play your best football.”

Many of those relationships revolved around Tielemans. If the expectation a few months ago was that the scorer of their 2021 FA Cup final winner would have been sold by now, the Belgian remains. “It will be great if he stays,” said Dewsbury-Hall. “Everybody knows how good Youri is. When he plays, he adds another dimension to our game with his technical ability.”

In footballing cliché, Tielemans could seem like Leicester’s best signing this summer. Dewsbury-Hall felt like their best signing last year, though he is actually a player who joined their academy at eight and only returned from loan at Luton. His breakthrough season helped offset the failure of most of their actual signings then: one reason why an overhaul was wanted was to dispose of recent mistakes like Boubakary Soumare, Jannik Vestergaard and Ryan Bertrand. One bad window can dent both long-term planning and a reputation as fine buyers.

A year of inactivity can create a ticking timebomb. Tielemans might be a case of short-term gain, long-term pain. His contract expires next summer, a renewal feels ever less likely and rather than banking perhaps £30m this year, when Arsenal looked a possible destination, Leicester could get nothing if he leaves at the end of the season.

A major rebuild might beckon in 2023 but with the problem that Leicester – whose recruitment has tended to be funded by a major sale each summer likw Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire or Ben Chilwell – will receive no such windfall for the 10 players whose contracts expire then. They include transfer-market missteps in Ayoze Perez, Mendy and Bertrand, but also the spine of an FA Cup-winning side. Kasper Schmeichel has hinted he may want a fresh challenge, Caglar Soyuncu has veered from revelation to player who fell out of favour after a wretched campaign last year, Jonny Evans’ body may be breaking down in his mid-thirties and perhaps even Vardy, who turns 36 in January, can only defy the ageing process for so long.

The end may be beckoning for three thirty-somethings. Before then, Rodgers faces a test of his persuasive skills with a group who may have expected to be gone by now. His words have largely been kept private: usually loquacious, he has been quiet in public of late, which may be a sign of disappointment about how Leicester’s window is unravelling. A progressive club regressed last season, from fifth to eighth. Their current team has the talent to break up the big six again. “We’ve got a vision at this club to keep improving,” said Dewsbury-Hall. “I don’t want the football club to stagnate.” If keeping Tielemans for another year could be a rare benefit of stagnation, a summer of stasis poses a threat to Leicester.