Since winning the Premier League in 2016 Leicester City has become one of the best teams in the Premier League. Last year, Leicester City finished eighth in the Premier League, but finished in fifth place in both 2019 and 2020.
While Leicester City will hope to finish in the top six this season, the team has yet to complete any transfer signings this summer. Three games into the season the Foxes have only one point in the Premier League so far this year and are in 19th place in the league. After a disappointing start to the season, can Leicester City continue to have success?
Leicester City’s Summer Transfer Window
The most significant news of the transfer window so far for Leicester City was the departure of long-time starting goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. Schmeichel signed with OGC Nice in Ligue 1 after more than 400 appearances for Leicester City.
Besides Schmeichel, the Leicester City squad that began this season is almost the exact same squad that finished eighth in the Premier League last year. In total, the only transfer fee paid or received by Leicester City during this summer’s transfer window so far is the $1.10 million transfer fee Nice agreed to for Schmeichel.
With only a few weeks left before the end of the transfer window, most transfer rumors surrounding Leicester City are focusing on players who could leave the team.
Wesley Fofana is one of the best young defenders in the Premier League, and multiple Premier League clubs have been interested in signing him this summer. The most notable among those teams is Chelsea, who have been trying to complete the signing of Fofana for the last few weeks. However, it isn’t clear if the two teams will be able to come to an agreement.
Similarly, Youri Tielemans is another player who multiple teams, especially Arsenal, have shown interest in signing this summer. Fellow midfielder Boubakary Soumare is another player that could reportedly leave Leicester City before the end of the transfer window.
It isn’t clear whether or not any more players will leave Leicester City this summer, or if the team would complete new signings if a player did leave. If Fofana, Tielemans, or Soumare sign with a new team in the next few weeks, Leicester City would have very little time remaining in the transfer window to sign a new player, or players, to improve the team’s depth.
How Will This Affect Leicester City’s Season?
Leicester City has earned just one point from their first three games of the season. The season began with a 2-2 draw against Brentford, and since then Leicester City has lost back-to-back games against Arsenal and Southampton.
Against Arsenal, Leicester City allowed two goals in the first half before eventually losing 4-2. Last weekend, James Maddison scored the first goal of the game against Southampton to give Leicester City the lead in the 54th minute, but Che Adams scored in both the 68th and 84th minute and Southampton eventually won.
So far this season the Foxes have allowed the most goals in the league, eight. Leicester City’s goal this season was to qualify for European competition. Fortunately for Leicester City, West Ham, who finished seventh last season, four points ahead of Leicester, and qualified for the Europa Conference League, have no points so far this season.
If Leicester City does not complete a transfer before the end of the window they will enter the season in a unique position. Every other team in the Premier League has completed transfers ahead of this season, while Leicester City would have almost the same squad, except for Schmeichel, until January.
The summer transfer window and the start to the season have been strange for Leicester City. Despite that, the team should still be very good in the Premier League this season.
