Yahoo News Leicester City pair can save club millions with pre-season proof as contract importance debated
While teams battle it out for the remaining spot in the Premier League, Leicester City can rest easy knowing their place in the top flight is secured. Or they can steal a march on their rivals and begin preparing for the new campaign right away.
On our latest Q&A with supporters, we answered questions over City’s summer plans, including on Wilfred Ndidi's contract, transfers, PSR issues, Will Alves and Sammy Braybrooke, the King Power Stadium development, and more. You can read our answers below.
Q: What is your gut feeling on Ndidi? For me it makes sense to prioritise a new contract for him. It’s essentially equivalent to signing a Premier League-quality player as a free agent from another team.
A: Yeah, I’m broadly in favour of him getting a new contract, because he's a good age and he is malleable. My only concern was that I don't think he would be a starter in attacking midfield in the Premier League. Is he good enough to be a back-up there? Probably. Is he good enough to be a starter in a different position? Maybe. Obviously, his old role in the team, protecting the back four with tackles and interceptions as part of a two-man pivot doesn't exist in Maresca's system.
But the manager seems to be planning to keep him, hinting that he could use Ndidi in the position that Choudhury played on the final day, stepping out from centre-back and into midfield. If money's tight, which it is set to be, you don't want to be spending £15m replacing him, so it makes a lot of sense to give him a new deal in that regard.
READ MORE: Alex Berenguer and five more free agents Leicester City could sign this transfer window
READ MORE: Leicester City's saddest story gets 'special' ending after three-year wait
Q: Given we sold Harvey Barnes for £40m and, as I understand it, the players' contracts were hit with a wage cut when we got relegated, are we really at risk under the PSR for this financial year? Feels like a lot of fear mongering and not a lot of facts.
A: Yes, they are very much at risk. Even when they won their appeal against the EFL and avoided being placed under a business plan, they won it on the grounds of a technicality, and that the EFL rules did not allow them to act as they hoped to. City didn't argue that they were at risk of breaching financial regulations. There has been an acknowledgement behind the scenes that they will need to sell players in June to comply with PSR for this season.
So yes, they may have made money through Barnes' sale, and through Castagne's. But they also spent more than £35m on Coady, Winks, Hermansen, Mavididi, and Cannon. And while yes, the wages will have come down through relegation clauses, they still would have had the biggest wage bill in the division, as it was the eighth-highest in the Premier League before they came down. Plus, the revenue earned from competing in the Championship is way, way below what it is in the Premier League. They are expected to try to sell players in June in order to cope.
Q: Is there any news on how Sammy Braybrooke and Will Alves are doing? It would have been good for them to have had a few games in the Championship this year. Do you think they will be out on loan next year or part of the squad?
A: I think if Alves had sustained his fitness for longer periods he would have been given a chance in the Championship by Maresca. But because he kept getting minor muscle injuries, he never managed to put together a run of outings for the Under-21s that would have seen Maresca feel confident in picking him. But Maresca is clearly keeping him close. It would have been a deliberate move to include him in the trophy lift and take him away on the post-season celebration trip.
As for his future, that's a really tough call at the moment. But I definitely wouldn't rule out him staying and being a part of the squad. He's going to feature in the pre-season matches, and if he does well, there's no reason why they wouldn't keep him around. But based on those games, if they feel he's not yet ready and wouldn't get much game-time, then I suspect he will be loaned out. There should be teams queueing up to have him.
Braybrooke took a little bit longer to recover from his injury but once he did, he kept his fitness up well, working his way from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, to 65 minutes, and then finishing the U21 season with three lots of 90 minutes.
I think he's probably more likely to go on loan than Alves because we've not yet had any indication from Maresca that he sees him as having first-team potential. In my eyes, he definitely does. He's got a game intelligence that is sometimes lacking in young players. But maybe he would need to prove that out on loan. Saying that, I don't think there's anybody in the squad who fits the Winks role as well as he does, and so maybe he could stick around as a back-up for that position.
But the main thing is that both came back and looked very good at Under-21 level. They seemed back to their old selves, which is not always certain after ACL injuries. Pre-season performances is going to be key for both. If they can prove they're ready to make the step up, it would certainly save City a lot of money and a lot of trouble this summer.
Q: I’m a big believer in building a strong team from the back. With Hermansen in goal, how do you think our defence will look for our first game back in the Premier League?
A: That's a good question. Obviously everything is fitness-dependent, but I'm almost certain Ricardo will be starting in the back four. Although a new contract has not yet been announced, I'd say Vestergaard is the next most likely to be involved. And I reckon Faes and Justin have got a decent chance at being included too.
But I do think Maresca will want a new left-footed defender this summer to help with the balance of his team, so I'll say that the club will sign one and they will start at left-back, with Ricardo, Faes, and Vestergaard completing the defence.
Q: Away from the pitch, is there any news on the stadium expansion? With hindsight of the Profit and Sustainability rules, we probably should have done the expansion and related items first (as they'll make money) rather than Seagrave.
A: I've not heard of anything to suggest the stadium expansion is immediately becoming a priority now City are back in the Premier League. I was always given the impression that they wanted to be established in the top flight before they went through with it.
However, I do think the club will be encouraged by the average attendance this season. There wasn't the drop-off that they might have expected. The average attendance was still over 31,000, whereas the last time they were in the Championship, it was just below 25,000. That should give encouragement that, even after expanding to 40,000 seats, demand should still be there if they do fall out of the Premier League again.
In terms of Seagrave, I'd probably disagree. If it does the job it was built for, it will earn City more money than expanding the stadium. By having a better training ground the hope is it would not only make the first team better (something we've not seen yet, in fairness), but also improve the quality through the academy. When the club built Seagrave, they had parents of talented kids in mind, making it as appealing as possible for them so that City could attract the best kids in the region. With better facilities to train them, the hope will be that transfer fees come down because an academy player eschews the need for a new signing, or money is made through selling homegrown talent.
With 8,000 more seats, at, let’s say, an average of £35 per ticket, across 19 games per season, that’s only generating an extra £5.3m. Yes the fan park and potential for further revenue there means there's more to be earned, and it's a fairly guaranteed figure, unlike the gamble on developing a talented youngster. But Chilwell was sold for £50m, Barnes for £40m. Dewsbury-Hall is a £30m player. There's more money in developing players.
Q: With probable contracts being offered to Vardy, Vestergaard and Ndidi, do you think we've learned a lesson with massively generous wages or do you think they'll all be offered crazy new contracts? Also, is there any word on the returning loanees?
A: I would hope so. Getting relegated with the eighth-highest wage bill in the Premier League is a bad look and should have led to some introspection over the wages the club are paying out. But it's not easy.
I'm not against Vestergaard getting a new contract, but I probably wouldn't want it to be a long one when there are doubts over how he will get on in the Premier League. But then again, if you only offer him a year and he feels it's derisory, he's going to leave to go elsewhere, and City are then going to have to go into the transfer market to buy a new player anyway, costing them more money.
Sporting have basically confirmed Fatawu's not going back there, so I’m fairly confident he will be a City player next season. Yunus I think is doubtful, while Doyle I think they probably can't afford.
Q: What is your hunch on how Leicester will vote on scrapping VAR? The Foxes Trust are polling members on this, and my hunch is that this will have a majority in favour of getting rid of it. Obviously whether the club would listen to the fans' overall preference is another matter.
A: I don't have an answer for certain, but my hunch would be that they would vote to keep it. Maresca is a fan of it. Honestly, I think most fanbases, if polled, would vote to get rid of it. But I'd also guess there will be very few clubs who listen to their fans over it.
Q: With hindsight what do you think got us (as well as a number of other clubs) into difficulty with FFP? Was it bad management, excessive wages, not selling a high value player each year, lack of league form? And who is responsible at the club for managing the finances of that (I'm not saying it is their fault as you can plan to sell a player, or you can plan to finish in a European spot, but it's not always that easy), but someone must be responsible for the money side.
A: It's a combination of all of those things. But excessive wages probably stands out as being the most critical issue. There appeared to be no consideration over whether the wages were affordable in the event that the club didn't qualify for Europe or slipped down the table. Even when they were finishing fifth, their wages as a percentage of their turnover were among the highest in the division. When they then finished 18th, it went to ridiculous levels.
It's difficult to say who is responsible for managing finances as regards PSR, because that's where finances meet the football side of things. Kevin Davies is the current financial director, but he only recently took over that role – within the last year – before that it was Simon Capper. The finance director is probably one of a few people who have to manage the finances regarding PSR, alongside director of football Jon Rudkin, director of football operations Andrew Neville, and chief exec Susan Whelan. Ultimately, it's on the chairman too.
Q: Is it just me or did injuries play a much less disastrous role this year? It seems like we had injuries to critical players over the last three seasons with many of them coming in the run-in to the end of those seasons.
A: I don't have the numbers to back it up, but I'd say there were fewer key injuries this season, yes. Doyle had his big injury, Ndidi missed a few months, Vardy missed a couple of months, and Ricardo missed four weeks, but aside from that, they kept players fit. Bar the odd game, Hermansen, Faes, Vestergaard, Justin, Winks, Dewsbury-Hall, Fatawu, and Mavididi were fit for the whole season. That's pretty good going.
I do think it helped that Maresca was willing to make so many changes early in the season. That probably did help avoid muscle issues further down the line and City had a fully-fit squad come the end of the campaign, bar the injury Dewsbury-Hall picked up celebrating the title win at Preston.
Q: What’s happening with trying to sign Callum Doyle permanently? and Callum O’Hare?
A: I think Doyle will be too expensive to buy. But depending on what Man City plan for him, I wouldn't be surprised if Leicester go back in for him on loan.
On O'Hare, I've not heard anything to suggest there is interest. But as a free signing, as someone who is talented but still has scope to improve, and playing in a position where he'd slot pretty well into the City line-up, I do think he could be a good fit at the club.
