What about if we sell all the players we’re trying to sell, but don’t make any signings? Since the news today made it even more unlikely that this particular scenario will unfold, let’s prepare for the worst. I’d guess a 6th or 7th placed finish, which makes sense if you remember it’s a healthier version of the squad that finished 8th last term. This squad competes for Europe and, if they stay fairly healthy, gets into the Europa League. There’s no lack of depth, although you could argue that there’s a lack of quality depth in some roles.

How would this team fare? Pretty well, in my opinion. This is a far from ideal use of resources, but playing Maddison on the right always the gaffer to include both Madders and Dewsbury-Hall. One thing I should probably mention at this point is that, since he was here on loan last year, I’m not considering Ademola Lookman in either of these scenarios. The goal here is to get Ndidi and Tielemans on the pitch at the same time. Another year under the belt is sure to help Daka, Soumare, Fofana, Castagne, and Söyüncü.Īssuming we go to war with the players currently under contract, here’s what I imagine Brendan Rodgers’ starting XI might look like:

There’s no guarantee that young players won’t get hurt, but they’re less likely to do so and, importantly, more likely to improve. On the other hand, many of the key players are either youngsters or in their prime years. The Portugal fullback hasn’t looked fully fit since Jack Grealish petulantly took his knee. Evans and Albrighton are over 30 and thus increasingly prone to injuries, while you have to be concerned about Ricardo. Thus, and I hate to say it, it’s hard to imagine Vardy staying healthy all season. The best two indicators of injury risk are: Injury history and age. We’ll address the former in the next section, but how likely are we to avoid major injuries this time around? Of course, we haven’t played our Spanish friendly yet, so anything is possible. The point is: If we don’t lose any of our key players and if we aren’t wrecked by injuries again, this is a much-improved squad over what we saw last season. Or, to put it another way, no outfield player started 30 matches in the league for us. We were without Vardy, Fofana, Evans, Söyüncü, Ndidi, Ricardo, Castagne, and, um, Bertrand for extended periods. I’d like to remind you that we finished 8th last season despite the fact that we never fielded our first-choice XI simultaneously. What does the squad look like if we don’t sign any players, but also don’t sell any? If we don’t sign any players, it would be difficult to describe any scenario as “good.” The Bad Let’s take a quick look at what the Foxes squad might look like if we don’t make any signings and speculate as to how they might line up. Given that it felt like the team took a step backwards last term, this would be viewed only slightly more favourably than having a Kula Shaker song featured on Stranger Things, making it suddenly ubiquitous.īut is it all doom and gloom? Well yes, but actually no. With the 2022/23 campaign starting in less than two weeks, we are faced with a possibility that seemed impossible when the previous season ended: We might not bring anyone in. You think I’m going to miss an opportunity to link a Futurama video?

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