Yahoo News Leicester City transfer strategy and budget explained with Alves and Braybrooke decisions needed
Leicester City can look to the future after selling Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but what will their own incoming transfer business entail?
That was one of the hot topics debated during our latest question-and-answer session with supporters, hosted by Foxes writer Jordan Blackwell.
Also up for discussion were the short-term futures of Will Alves, Sammy Braybrooke, and Wilfred Ndidi, the potential signing of Caleb Okoli, the Foxes' ongoing profit and sustainability woes and the club communication strategy.
You can take a look at the topics on the agenda and our answers below...
Q: Although nobody knows exactly what money we have to spend this season, let’s say we have no more outgoings, will we have £100m, £50m or nothing to spend on transfers?
A: Of those three options, £50m seems closest to what it will be. We know they're about to spend £14m on Fatawu and there will need to be a handful of signings beyond that to get the squad in shape for a battle for survival.
With the promise of Premier League TV payments throughout the season, there will be a bit of money to play with. But the club are still reeling from relegation, they've still got a big wage bill to deal with, and they've still got to be mindful of PSR going forward.
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Q: Are we likely to see any further friendly fixtures announced and will this include a home fixture? Are Alves and Braybrooke likely to go on loan in your opinion?
A: There definitely will be more friendlies announced, yes. The impression I was given was that there would be UK games away from home and matches against European opponents away from home. There's not been any indication that there would be a home match.
On Alves and Braybrooke, I really think their futures are going to be determined by how they play in pre-season. But right now, I would be leaning towards Alves staying as there are gaps in the squad for attacking midfielders like him.
For Braybrooke, it might be more difficult to earn a first-team spot, as there is more competition in the deeper midfield spots. But if he doesn't make it into Steve Cooper's plans, then I hope he does go out on loan and not sit with the under-21s. He's ready for men's football and needs a chance to further his talent.
Q: Will Steve Cooper actually sign Premier League players with experience, not 18-year-old kids who are going to need time to get to standard?
A: I'd guess the signings will probably be somewhere in between. I wouldn't expect £40m deals for established top-level players. I think the club will be looking to spend £10m or £15m here or there on players who they feel can step up to the top level and who, should they develop, will be worth a lot of money a few years down the line.
Q: Do you think there’s a chance Ndidi stays?
A: I do think there's a chance that Ndidi stays, yes. But the longer it goes without him signing, the more uncertain it is, I would say. Plus, at some point, City have to move on. They've got a midfield to strengthen and can't wait forever. If it doesn't happen in the next two weeks, my guess would be that it won't happen.
Q: Was KDH keen to move, or did he ideally want to stay but was told he had to go to avoid the second points deduction?
A: As far as I'm aware, he wanted to stay if the choice was between City and Brighton or City and any other mid-table club. I think Chelsea's interest changed things. For me, that's understandable. It's his best chance to make a go of a career at a top-six club I would say, working alongside a manager that trusts him and knows how to get the best out of him. But I will predict that he hasn't played his final game for City. I can see him returning to the club before the end of his career.
Q: Leicester are set to agree the signing of centre-back Caleb Okoli from Atalanta. Were you aware of this?
A: I wasn't aware of that until it broke. It seems to have come out of the blue, that one. I'd heard that a centre-back signing was under consideration, and it seems Okoli has played on the left of a back three at times, which would make sense for the formation it's expected Cooper will go for this coming season.
Q: At the moment I feel really disillusioned with the club. I think it's the lack of information that's getting to me the most. If we've signed Fatawu, why not tell us? Have we signed the lad from Chelsea or not? When can we expect a new kit? Have we ditched plans to improve the stadium? When can we expect to know about deductions? What is the often mentioned but never detailed 'long term strategy'? The list goes on.
All the club seem to want at the moment is our money (through ST cards and ridiculous match prices). I'm feeling that they no longer want fans, people who care about the club and are invested in its success but ask questions. They just want a load of client reference number holders who pay their cash, clap politely and then go home until the next time.
A: I don't think you're alone in feeling that way. And your last point, about the club not wanting any pushback from supporters, instead preferring dispassionate match-goers to pay their money and nothing more, does get to the heart of a problem at a lot of clubs these days. The game is, sadly, a business and clubs are focused on making money where they can. They don't have to engage with fans if that money's coming in.
And with City, they've made themselves look bad with the physical season ticket charge and the matchday prices. It looks like a cash-grab, even though their season tickets are among the cheapest in the Premier League.
With the £25 charge, I get the impression it's as much about security and knowing who is in the stadium as anything else. But I don't think they can frame it as an 'incentive' to go digital when they're charging extra. To be a true incentive, they needed to introduce the push for digital in a season where they were freezing season-ticket prices, so that they could then offer a £25 discount to anybody who chooses to have their season ticket on their phone.
With the matchday prices, I do feel they've hidden how much of a sharp rise it is. I've asked, but so far there's no answer on how many games will be in the new Category C bracket, and so at the lowest price point. It looks like there will still be a handful of matches where the cheapest ticket has gone up £9 on the last Premier League season, from £30 to £39. That's a big jump in two years.
But, they sold out nearly every week last season. The last time they were in the Championship, there were routinely 5,000 empty seats. I suspect the ticket prices will only stop going up when they stop being bought.
As for the lack of communication, that’s how it’s been for a while. That's been a frustration of fans for a long time. On stuff like Fatawu, I think because it's been clear for so long that he's signing, it can seem like the club are being really slow on it. But I do think that's partially because fans are so invested in the day-to-day rumours and tidbits of information. It feels like the updates are incremental and that can exacerbate the feeling of it taking ages. But I suspect at most clubs there is a signing like that, where everybody knows it's happening but it just hasn't been announced yet.
It's the same with kits. As far as I'm aware, at least half the Premier League clubs haven't announced their new strips for the season yet, so I don't think that's too much of a concern.
But yes, I do agree with you, I do think the club could keep fans more in the loop on things. Hopefully with more supporters joining the Foxes Trust, that will give them a stronger voice to ask for greater communication.
Q: I'm wondering why the club just seems to have stopped engaging and seem to have lost any ability to read the room, so to speak? Compare Leeds' statement about Archie Gray leaving to ours about KDH. Why can't the club, just occasionally, show some emotion? Is there something you can see which would explain why they think it's better to just constantly churn out the same copy-and-paste statements about everything? Do you think they see the fans' frustration and ignore it? Or are they just too self-absorbed to even notice?
A: That's a good point on KDH. Maybe it was a case of trying to get the balance right with a player leaving to join a so-called better club and not wanting to feel too inferior. But the fan perception of KDH's departure was very different to those of Fofana or Maguire or whoever and you're right, it didn't feel like that was understood in the goodbye message to KDH.
I would say they do show emotion though and do judge things right. They got it spot on with Albrighton's exit over the summer. But I do feel it was perhaps a slight mis-step over KDH.
Yes, they definitely do see fans' frustration. I wouldn't say they ignore it either. More that they don't consider fan frustrations as important as supporters feel they should. I know Foxes Trust still haven't been able to have a meeting with the club over the rise in matchday ticket prices, which I don't think is a great look.
Q: Why doesn't the club hierarchy come out and really speak up much more punchily about the financial rigging in the Premier League and become a cheerleader for everyone excluded by the Big Six? There's a strong case for saying PSR is simply a racket designed to push back the middle-sized clubs from investing in success. Why don't the club articulate this more clearly and strongly? It would get a lot of support, if it did.
A: That’s interesting, because I would say City did do just that, as you say they should have. When the PSR charge first came through, the club said they "will continue to defend itself from any unlawful acts by the football authorities" and "continue to fight for the right of all clubs to pursue their ambitions, particularly where these have been reasonably and fairly established through sustained sporting achievement".
To me, that's pretty bullish. I think it perhaps didn't have the impact with City fans that it might have had because it came at a time where people were more preoccupied with the Championship promotion race and the poor form on the pitch that could damage that. Plus, I think a lot of supporters saw City's relegation as a fault of the club's poor organisation, rather than any fault of the rules.
I agree that PSR needs changing. That it encourages clubs to sell academy players is dreadful, in my opinion. But I don't know how it can change. There needs to be some rules in place to stop clubs spending beyond their means, but also rules in place that allow the league to be competitive. They could go the other way and introduce a salary cap to stop the biggest clubs paying extortionate wages and blowing other sides out of the water. But they would never agree to that.
