Every day, there are rumours that some present players might be leaving, while others are being suggested as possible additions.
Joyskim Dawa, a defender for Steua Bucharesti, is one recent example. The 28-year-old goalie, who has played for football teams in Latvia, Ukraine, and Romania, makes an odd move if it occurs. He remains a prospective new player. The Romanian league and cup champion and Cameroon international is of high calibre. If the player succeeds, the fee—which may be as low as £4 million—would be considered a coup.
Finding the balance required to continue building is Steve Cooper’s challenge. According to the speculation, Wout Faes and Caleb Okoli may be players who are truly thinking about being sold because they both have the ability to draw interest from teams in higher positions.
It must be mentioned that Steve Cooper’s hiring practices have drawn a lot of criticism thus far. Players like Oliver Skipp, Bilal El Khannouss, and Caleb Okoli were brought in without any clear strategy for their future or message that would position them as viable first team options. It is truly absurd to not have the resources necessary to bring these three high-profile transfer fee signings—worth a combined £69 million—to your side.
Managers who fail to recognise that transfer fees are being utilised to acquire players who don’t actually have a first team spot or who are unable to live up to their values or bring games to a close will eventually be fired.
Since signing from Lille three years ago, Bouba Soumare has essentially remained on the periphery. Aside from Dean Smith, who defeated Leicester two seasons ago, no one really believed him to be a starter, thus he also spent time on loan at Sevilla. Playing Soumare in a Premier League first team setup is difficult due to his inconsistent high and low levels. We think the tempo and style of play would be better appropriate for the 25-year-old, and AC Milan is reportedly considering him.
Peter Taylor, Claudio Ranieri, Claude Puel, Craig Shakespeare, Sven Goran Eriksson, and Brendan Rodgers were all forced to resign from their positions as Leicester managers due to their extravagant spending on players they actually had no plan for and their exorbitant fees for players who didn’t perform up to par, lost their spot in the team, or weren’t even considered to be a useful player. Steve Cooper appears to be following suit, spending large sums of money on players who are unable to establish themselves as key members of the first squad.
When Peter Taylor paid Wolves £5.5 million for Ade Akinbiyi, he made what may have been the worst acquisition in history. It was Taylor’s downfall to spend a record transfer fee on a player who would never again compete in the Premier League. Claudio Ranieri spent foolish funds on Ahmed Musa, Bartos Kapustka, Ron Robert-Zieler, Islam Slimani, and Nampalys Mendy. They all ended up being complete failures and never made it into the first team.
Craig Shakespeare will always be remembered for nearly ruining Adrien Silva’s career, signing a long-term contract with Matty James, who hardly ever played in the first team after the 2013–14 promotion season, and never getting anything out of Vicente Iborra.
Although Claude Puel made many excellent transfers for Leicester, some of them will be questioned until the very end. Danny Ward, Filip Benkovic, and Rachid Ghezzal are expensive additions that are not necessary and are not wise investments.
The acquisitions of Matt Mills and Jason Beckford, who were both brought in for enormous sums of money at the Championship level but weren’t exactly what Svennis needed to succeed, were major errors made by Sven Goran Erikson.
The acquisitions of Tetè, Harry Souttar, Patson Daka, Bouba Soumare, Victor Kristiansen, Dennis Praet, and Jannik Vestergaard were all disastrous mistakes committed by Brendan Rodgers. He had no plan for these people, and it is a waste of money to spend it on people you don’t think are worthy of being on your team.
The fact that Steve Cooper has spent so much money on guys he hasn’t utilised from the beginning in his first team—Caleb Okoli, Harry Skipp, and El Khannouss—makes no sense because money like that should only be spent on players who will help the squad.
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