Monthly Archives: July 2016

Spurs trio no longer part of Pochettino’s plans

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Tottenham Hotspur’s manager Mauricio Pochettino has reached the decision that Nabil Bentaleb, Federico Fazio and Alex Pritchard have no future at the club, as reported .

After omitting the trio from the squad of players which he currently has with him in Australia to play games against Atletico Madrid and Juventus, Pochettino unequivocally declared that they do not feature in his plans for the forthcoming season.

“The situation of Bentaleb, Fazio and Pritchard is clear. They are not in my plans,” said Pochettino, who watched his side lose 2-1 to Juventus yesterday – 26 July – at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Nabil Bentaleb

After making 35 appearances for Spurs in all competitions during the 2014-15 campaign under Pochettino, Bentaleb’s prospects of establishing himself as a long-term regular in the club’s first team appeared to be healthy. However due to a lack of both fitness and form, the 21-year-old made just eleven appearances last season, as he fell out of favour with Pochettino.

Subsequently whilst Bentaleb’s ambition is believed to be continuing to play in England‘s top flight, fulfilling that may prove difficult, since Spurs’ preference is understood to be selling the Algerian internationalist for no less than £10m, which is a fee that fellow Premier League clubs are unlikely to be willing to pay. However according to Talksport are weighing up a move for Bentaleb.

Nevertheless in the event Spurs are unable to sell Bentaleb this summer, they may opt to allow him to go out on loan, in the hope that he performs well and increases his value as a result of that. The Algerian internationalist has 19 caps for his country and earned three of those by playing in each of Les Fennecs group games at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Alex Pritchard

Just as Bentaleb enjoyed an excellent 2014-15 season, so too did Alex Pritchard whilst on loan at Brentford, as he scored 12 goals in 45 Championship appearances to earn a place in the England squad for the UEFA U-21 European Championships.

Subsequently however the 23-year-old’s development has been hampered by injuries as he endured disappointing loan spell with West Bromwich Albion last season.

Despite that several clubs including Newcastle United, Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers, are understood as being interested in Pritchard but may be averse to paying the £9m which Spurs would like to sell him for.

Whether they would be receptive to offers of less than that amount for Pritchard is uncertain, although Swansea may be readying an £8m bid for the midfielder, who made his Spurs debut on the last day of the 2013-14 season against Aston Villa but has made just one further appearance for the club since

Federico Fazio

Relative to Spurs’ valuation of Fazio, that is not thought to be as high as that of either Bentaleb or Pritchard, with the club thought to be looking to recoup as much as possible of the £8m which they paid Sevilla for the 29-year-old centre half.

An Argentinean internationalist, Fazio has been capped three times at senior level, whilst he was a member of the Argentina sides which won both the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2007 and the 2008 Olympic Football Tournament in Beijing.

At present La Liga side Espanyol are believed to be leading the race to sign Fazio who was sent off on his Premier League debut for Spurs, which ended in a 4-1 defeat to Manchester City on 18 October 2014.

Future destinations of trio remain unknown

Therefore whilst Pochettino is intent on clearing Bentaleb, Fazio and Pritchard out of his squad this summer, the transfer fees which Spurs are reportedly demanding for the trio, may prevent him from doing so.

Given that the future destination of each of the three players is unclear but they will almost certainly not play any role for Tottenham so long as Pochettino remains the club’s manager.

The 44-year-old former Southampton boss recently ruled himself out of the running to fulfil Argentina’s vacant managerial position, choosing instead to pledge his future to Tottenham, with whom he signed a five-year-contract in May, reported to be worth in the region of £5.5m, plus bonuses, per year.

English Premier League clubs interested in Portuguese Euro 2016 stars

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Two of Portugal’s Euro 2016 stars have become primary transfer targets for a number of English Premier League clubs.

Sporting duo attracting interest from England

The Sporting Lisbon duo of William Carvalho and Joao Mario were both key members of the Portuguese team which won the European Championships in France, with the pair now understood to be attracting interest from some of the top clubs in England.

Magnificent Joao Mario

As an ever present during Portugal’s successful Euro 2016 campaign, Joao Mario produced a series of excellent performances by consistently displaying his superb technical ability, range of passing and ability to read the game, with the 23-year-old also doing that for Sporting Lisbon throughout last season. During that as well as scoring six goals, Mario provided assists for another 11 to help his club, managed by Jorge Jesus, finish second in the Primeira Liga.

Subsequently following his superb form for both club and country over the past year, Joao Mario is now being linked with a move away from Sporting Lisbon, with the club having rejected a bid in the region of £33.5 for him from Liverpool, as reported by Goal.

Whether Jurgen Klopp’s side will submit an improved offer as yet remains unclear, however Chelsea are believed as being ready to make £46m proposal for Joao Mario, with Goal also suggesting that Manchester United may register an interest in the assured, calm and elegant midfielder should they be unable to agree a deal to sign Paul Pogba from Juventus.

Therefore Joao Mario is a player in high demand, which is understandable given that he has established himself as one of the finest playmakers in European football. In addition to having now earned 18 international caps for Portugal at senior level, Joao Mario also enjoyed a superb under-21 career with Selecao.

Specifically he was an ever present in the Portuguese side which reached the final of last year’s UEFA U-21 Championship, before losing on penalties to Sweden. So too was Joao Mario’s Sporting Lisbon team mate William Carvalho, who is reportedly a transfer target for both Chelsea and Everton, according to the Metro.

Calm and composed Carvalho

The 24-year-old holding midfielder plays with controlled aggression and composure, whilst being a tough tackler, who has a wonderful sense of position and ability to read the game.

By showcasing those attributes for both Portugal and Sporting Lisbon over the past three years, Carvalho has earned the admiration of some of the biggest clubs in Europe, with Chelsea and Everton identifying him as a player ideally suited to bolstering their midfield options.

It is understood that Sporting may be willing to listen to offers in the region of £30m for Carvalho, who was named the UEFA European U-21 Championship player of the tournament and now has 25 international caps to his name.

Operación salida

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Jese

El mercado de verano sigue abierto y las salidas del equipo blanco son un tema de conversación en la Castellana, porque está claro que algunos jugadores se van a ir. La incógnita es, ¿quién? La vuelta de los cedidos crea un embudo en el vestuario al que se le debe dar salida cuanto antes.

La vuelta de Morata es una de las claves del terremoto de movimientos que se avecina. Si Álvaro se queda es para ser el cuarto delantero del equipo, por tanto el rol del canterano Jesé quedaría aún mucho más relegado. Con minutos contados a cuenta gotas, su futuro estaría lejos del Bernabéu.

En el centro del campo también hay exceso de jugadores. Modric y Kroos son indiscutibles y parece que Casemiro tampoco se va a mover porque demostró ser muy del agrado de Zidane al hacerle titular en la recta final de la última temporada. En cambio, el futuro de James o Isco está en el aire. El colombiano ha vuelto motivado y dejado claro que quiere jugar, la temporada pasada perdió la titularidad por culpa de su bajo rendimiento y quiere recuperar un hueco en el 11. James busca minutos, pero si no lo hace hay varios clubes europeos dispuestos a pagar una millonada por él. En cuanto al malagueño, es el eterno jugador número 12 y sus opciones pasan por un poco más de protagonismo o recalar en otro club que le dé más minutos.

Kovačić es el que más papeletas tiene para salir. Llegó de la mano de Benítez, pero no ha convencido ni al Bernabéu ni a Zizou. Y a Odegaard, que aún tiene 17 años, se le busca una cesión; diversas fuentes apuntan hacia la Bundesliga. En cuanto a las cesiones que regresan a Chamartín, Marco Asensio ha demostrado un gran nivel pero quizá lo más conveniente sea darle un poco más de rodaje en otro equipo de Primera. Coentrao no encaja bien, aunque puede ser el recambio para Arbeloa; jugaría pocos minutos para aportar su experiencia… será Zizou quien tenga la última palabra y decida si cuenta con él. O Lucas Silva, aún muy joven pero con la duda de su situación cardiaca.

Se avecina una tormenta de movimientos, pero el técnico ha dejado claro que no quiere dejar los deberes para última hora. Por tanto, las salidas se pueden agilizar en los próximos días por el bien del equipo.

 

Premier League players heading for the 2016 Rio Olympics

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Ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympic Football tournament, which will begin on 4 August, the 16 competing countries have now announced their squads, which include a number of players based in the English Premier League.

Premier League players set to feature in Rio

Whilst Arsenal could potentially be represented at the Olympics by two players, one player from each of Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham may feature in Rio.

The only country whose squad contains more than one English Premier League player is Portugal’s, with their manager Rui Jorge naming Manchester United goalkeeper Joel Pereira and Liverpool centre half Thiago Llori among his 18-man squad.

Nigeria manager Sunday Oliseh did call up five English Premier League based players to his provisional 35-man squad but only Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel has made the Super Eagles final pool of 18.

Omitted from that for a variety of different reasons were the quartet of Odion Ighalo (Watford), Kelechi Iheanacho (Manchester City), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) and Kenneth Omeru (Chelsea), who will now each continue preparations for the 2016-2017 Premier League season with their respective clubs.

In addition to Nigeria and Portugal, three other countries have included an English Premier League player in their squads. Whilst Arsenal midfielder Serge Gnabry has been selected to play for Germany, his club mate Takumo Asano is a member of Japan’s 18-man squad, with Heung-Min Son of Tottenham being one of South Korea’s overage players.

Three representatives from the English Football League

In terms of that each country has been able to call upon three players born before 1993, with one of those in Denmark’s squad being Brentford striker Lasse Vibe.

Two other players from English Football League clubs are also heading to play in Rio, as Birmingham striker Nicolai Brock-Marsden joins Vibe in Denmark’s party, whilst Tim Erlandson has been named as one of Sweden’s two goalkeepers.

As such each of the aforementioned players are to miss the start of the English Football season but will potentially be afforded the honour of playing for their respective countries at the Olympics, which represents a wonderful opportunity for any professional footballer.

Lanzini to no longer take part in Rio

One player who will no longer receive that opportunity is West Ham striker Manuel Lanzini, since despite being named in Argentina’s squad, the 23-year old has now been ruled out of the tournament due to injury and been replaced in country‘s squad by Boca Juniors striker Cristian Pavon.

Pep Guardiola set to have his biggest managerial challenge to date with Manchester City

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Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel MNever mind if you were able to tame the egos of Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, Arjen Robben and Thomas Muller. Never mind if you won countless trophies at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Pep Guardiola has finally taken up the real challenge of his managerial career with Manchester City as the new Premier League campaign inches towards kick off.

True Guardiola will in effect have his biggest transfer budget to date with high spending City, but the club are not yet regarded as one of Europe’s elite. That was clearly evidenced in their limp underwhelming display against Real Madrid in the Champions League semi finals last season. When the going got tough, their main stars did not get going.

The biggest challenge for Guardiola will be the fact that there will be more than just one big rival to contend with for Premier League glory. In Spain Guardiola’s Barcelona only had Real Madrid to contend with, the rise of Atletico was a few seasons off before Guardiola took his sabbatical in New York.

When he switched to the Bundesliga it was much the same, perhaps even easier as his team swept to title after title. Borussia Dortmund were always the pretenders to any one of those crowns.

But in England things will be decidedly different. Eternal rivals Manchester United now have Guardiola’s eternal nemesis Jose Mourinho in the dug out and after spending big and hoping for glorious change with the ‘special one’ United will have revitalized optimism.

Chelsea, four time champions in the past 11 years will be back with Italian tactician Antonio Conte under their wing. Surely last seasons fall from grace will have been a one off. Arsenal so frustrating, will be challenging for the title and taking points off of the other teams and Liverpool as ever remain a difficult side to beat.

And we haven’t even touched on the likes of Tottenham Hotspur so impressive last season before imploding in the last few weeks. The likes of Everton and West Ham United in their new stadium should be solid too. Oh and we can’t forget the current Premier League champions, Leicester City- no one knows what to expect of them this season- but they will not wither away that’s for sure.

Guardiola then has taken the step up for his personal career- in Germany he will be remembered as being a good boss but perhaps his failure to bring home the Champions League trophy in his three seasons there will hinder him from being remembered as a great one.

The challenge is on then to bring Manchester City their first ever Champions League and if he can instantly win back the Premier League and make that extra step Guardiola’s legacy could be sealed. But make no mistake, the Premier League could well find the Spaniard out, the challenge is most certainly on.

 

 

 

Matuidi interested in moving to the Premier League

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Paris Saint Germain midfielder Blaise Matuidi is currently considering his future options, with the 29-year-old being attracted to the possibility of playing in the English Premier League, as reported by Le Parisien.

After spending five seasons with the Ligue 1 champions, Matuidi is now understood to be seeking a fresh challenge but has as yet not submitted a formal transfer request to PSG.

At present although PSG are participating in the International Champions Cup in America, Matuidi is on holiday with the expectation being that he will to return to training at the club’s Camps des Loges training ground on 2 August.

PSG keen to keep Matuidi

In the meantime whilst PSG are believed as being receptive in terms of listening to offers for Matuidi, who they bought from Saint Etienne in 2011 to replace the retired Claude Makelele, they nevertheless have a strong desire to keep a hold of the talented holding midfielder, as expressed by their new manager Unai Emery.

“Matuidi is a fantastic player and he belongs to PSG. Logically, I do not wish to lose fantastic players. As his coach, I support him and I await his return to the team. Circumstances, whereby he leaves, could change that but that is not want I want,” declared Emery, who was unveiled as PSG’s new manager at the end of June.

Since then the 44-year-old Spaniard has not had the opportunity to work with Matuidi, who is under contract with PSG until 2018, with talks over the possibility of extending that not having yet taken place.

Whether such talks will materialise remains unclear but it is likely that PSG’s President Nasser Al-Khelefai and the club’s assistant athletic director Olivier Letang will try to hold them with Matuidi, in order to persuade the French internationalist to stay in Paris rather than move abroad.

Preference for the English Premier League

In the event of the latter, his preferred destination is thought to be one of the big club’s in the English Premier League. However given that Chelsea have signed N’Golo Kante for £30m from Leicester and Paul Pogba is being pursued by Manchester United, a move to either of those teams seems at present unlikely. Nevertheless in the event United manager Jose Mourinho is unable to agree a deal with Juventus for Pogba, the Portuguese may turn his attention to recruiting Matuidi.

Ultimately since Matuidi still has two years left on his PSG contract, the club are in a strong position to bargain a high transfer fee for the player, who is reported to earn wages in the region of £670,000 per month. As such, those two factors could potentially combine to deter any clubs interested in signing Matuidi from making an offer for him, with PSG as yet not having received any.

Matuidi’s glittering reputation

During five years with PSG, he has made 237 appearances in all competitions for the club, whilst helping them to win the Ligue 1 title for the last four consecutive years. Named as the French player of the year for 2015 Matuidi, who started his career with Troyes, has 50 French caps to his name and was a key member of Didier Deschamps’ side which reached the final of Euro 2016.

Subsequently what with being firmly established as one of the best holding midfielders in world football, regardless of where Matuidi’s future lies, he is likely to continue enjoying great success in his career.

Is Kingsley Coman set to become one of the world’s best players?

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After the ashes have settled and the disappointment for the French team losing on home turf in the Euro 2016 final there are still some positives to take from Les Bleus tournament.

One of course is the rising emergence of players such as Dimitri Payet, surplus to requirements at Marseille they sold him to Premier League club West Ham United where he was supposed to start his journeyman career. But Payet it seems has blossomed late on and looks a good deal for any club now or in the future.

Antoine Griezmann we already knew about- here is a player that continuously lights up the Cauldron a stadium in which he is the orchestrator for his club Atletico Madrid. Samuel Umtiti almost unheard of outside Ligue 1 had an outstanding tournament and his reward was a move to Barcelona.

And then there is Kingsley Coman. He was 19 when the Euro’s started and 20 when it finished and literally went from teenager to adult in that time. French coach Didier Deschamps was hesitant to use the attacking winger, for fear of his youth, never starting him in a game. And so he quickly became known as the super sub, but what a sub.

Each time Coman was unleashed onto the pitch he was able to inject countless amounts of energy into the team. He was quick, decisive, made the right pass and rarely lost the ball and he didn’t seem to phase him at all that he was playing in his first ever major tournament.

Whilst there is talk of his countryman Paul Pogba going back to Manchester United for upwards of £100 million, some of Europe’s elite could do no wrong to keep one eye on this kid. Thing of it is, the elite already have him under their wings.

Coman came through the PSG ranks but with the bottomless pit of money and proven talent at the squad and he being just 17 he was sold on to Juventus. Juve in turn gave him just 15 appearances before coming to the decision to loan him out to German giants Bayern Munich. This season he will start his second and probably last season with the Bavarians. The reason is that if Juventus don’t call Coman back the player will be available to Munich for just £20 million. A bargain that feels more like theft given the humongous transfers of the past few weeks.

If Pogba does, as expected leave Juventus, the Old Lady will surely recall Coman back. He looks like the back bone, the hope and the glory for the French national team in the coming years.

There are not many players in world football right now that when they receive the ball you can’t quite anticipate what will follow next, he loves his football and we love the excitement he gives us- stardust is Coman.

Guadiola engineering an improved City side

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It has not taken Pep Guardiola long to seamlessly settle into his new role as Manchester City manager.

Positive first impressions

Since delivering his first press conference as Manuel Pellgrini’s predecessor, Guardiola has made significant progress towards developing a vastly improved City side, from the one which finished fourth in the Premier League last season.

In addition to signing Iilkay Gundogan, Nolito and Alexander Zinchenko, in order to prepare his entire squad for the new season, Guardiola is currently engaging them in a well-designed training programme of the ilk which he ran in each of his two previous managerial position with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

After modifying and reshaping those clubs, to bring great success to both, the 49-year-old Spaniard is aspiring to do a similar job at City, and has made a very positive start to achieving that, as testified by the club’s midfielder Fabien Delph.

“The new manager has come in, he’s got his ideas and the big thing that I have noticed is that the intensity of training has gone through the roof. Every player seems to be pressing their claims and the new systems of playing have been very interesting,” revealed Delph according to Sky Sports.

Pep the football purist

As such Guardiola has already built an excellent working relationship with City’s players. Furthermore he is earning their respect by delivering training sessions that portray himself as being a football aesthete, who works in his own wonderfully unique way, which places an emphasis on craft and technique, rather than physicality and strength.

Nevertheless the challenge for Guardiola at City is to build a team which is characterised by all four of the aforementioned attributes, so that they are capable of not just winning the Premier League but also becoming giants of the European game.

Guardiola targets new signings

So as to successfully conquer that challenge, Guardiola is currently in the process of trying to strengthen his squad by recruiting some quality new players, with his primary transfer targets being Everton central defender John Stones and Leroy Sane. The 20-year-old Schalke 04 striker is also understood as being pursued by Real Madrid, whilst Los Blancos are also in the race to sign Palmeiras striker Gabriel Jesus who is another player that Guardiola is interested in bringing to the Etihad Stadium.

Laying the foundations for success

In addition to having a clear vision of the individuals he wishes to sign, Guardiola also has an unwavering commitment to maximising the potential of his existing squad of players, to whom he has already endeared himself, as proclaimed by Delph.

“So far Pep has been unbelievable with everyone. From day one, he knew everybody’s name. He makes you feel good about yourself and makes you want to do well and push on,” said the 26-year-old England internationalist, to testify that since beginning work at the start of July, Guardiola has harvested a great atmosphere and morale among his squad.

Therefore whilst still very much in it’s infancy, Guardiola’s reign as Manchester City manager is beginning to bear the characteristics required to achieve success, as the highly eloquent and knowledgeable Spaniard works towards engineering a team with the potential to win domestic and European honors.

Mourinho and Guardiola get ready for phoney war

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On Monday evening in China Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola will renew their seven year rivalry as Manchester United take on Manchester City in the International Champions Cup.

It will be the 17th clash between perhaps two of the most respected managers in football who have a trophy haul of 43 bits of silverware between them. But both managers are playing down their first English derby match and so they should.

Organisers of the International Champions Cup have been bullish in recent times comparing the tournament with UEFA’s crown jewels the Champions League and suggesting it has the capacity to become the priority competition.

But let’s be realistic; games played before the season starts are friendly games, yes that means even when United and City meet. Both managers have admitted that the most important thing that could come out of the game is that there are no injuries, this must feel like a hammer blow to the guys behind the scenes of the ICC.

There is also an anti climatic feel to proceedings when you have two great rivals pairing off against each other with new managers and the first time they will meet will be in a meaningless friendly. But such is the greed of football (how could it ever be a good idea to fly out to China with new squads and systems you are adapting to). But money is king.

Let’s not forget one set of people who will benefit from this game- though not in their wallets with the cheapest ticket trading at £60. But this game does give the opportunity for fans of both Manchester clubs where seemingly there are a good few million in China to witness the game live and see the stars they hold in such high regard in the flesh. One could concede that those stars may actually be the managers for this game such is their heated past.

Pep Guardiola holds the upper hand over Mourinho led teams. From 16 games Guardiola has won 7 with 6 draws. Indeed Mourinho has only been successful 3 times over Guardiola although one was the all important Champions League semi final in 2010 where his Inter Milan side overcame Barcelona. Another of those defeats came when Mourinho’s Real Madrid won the Copa del Rey over Barcelona. In short Mourinho’s wins have at least been important if scant.

The last time the two managers met was in August 2013 when Guardiola at Bayern Munich beat Mourinho now at Chelsea for a second time in the UEFA Super Cup.

It’s been a long time coming, 3 years since the two figureheads clashed, it’s just a shame that their doing so for fan endorsement and not much else.

 

 

 

 

Ranieri pragmatic on Leicester’s prospects of defending Premier League title

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Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has voiced his belief that rather than aiming to defend their Premier League title, the club’s ambition for the forthcoming season is simply to avoid relegation.

After losing just three times during the entire 2015-2016 Premier League campaign, the Foxes won the championship by 10 points from runners-up Arsenal.

As a result of masterminding that achievement, Ranieri was named both the League Managers’ Association and Premier League, manager of the year.

Ranieri’s estimation of Leicester’s expectations

Testament to Ranieri’s graciousness and humility, is that despite receiving those awards and leading Leicester to the title, the 64-year-old Italian’s ambition for the season ahead is to ensure his team retain their Premier League status for a third successive season.

“Our objective to start the season with is to reach 40 points and stay up”, Ranieri revealed in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport.

Leicester amassed 40 points after just 20 games last season, which represented their total for the entire 2014-2015 campaign, before going on to win 12, draw five and lost just one of their remaining 18 matches.

Ultimately whilst being pragmatic on his side’s prospects for the forthcoming season, Ranieri also acknowledges that the potential exists for his team to achieve far more than merely avoid relegation

“Once we’ve achieved that, we can raise the bar: finish in the top 10, qualify for the Europa League, a place in the Champions League. Maybe we can win one of the five trophies we will be challenging for: Community Shield, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions League. That is our running order step-by-step,” said Ranieri, who is currently enduring a difficult summer in terms of battling to keep a hold of his best players.

Testing summer for Ranieri

Specifically after striker Jamie Vardy decided to decline the opportunity to join Arsenal and instead sign a new four year deal with the Foxes, they sold N’Golo Kante to Chelsea for £30m, whilst speculation continues to circulate that last season’s PFA Player of the Year, Riyadh Mahrez may move away from the club.

Nevertheless Ranieri has been able to add some quality new players to his squad, including Nampalys-Mendy who has the capability to seamlessly integrate into Leicester’s midfield and fill the void created by Kante’s departure.

As well as Mendy, Leicester have also signed goalkeeper Ron-Robert Zieler, defender Luis Hernandez and Ahmed Musa with the Nigerian international striker arriving for a club record fee of £15.6m from CSKA Moscow.

Potential to enjoy another successful season

Taking into account the excellent business the Foxes have completed so far in the transfer market this summer and that Kante is the only key member of their title winning side to have left the club, they seem extremely well equipped to not only comfortably achieve Ranieri’s fundamental aim of avoiding relegation, but to also handle the demands associated with competing domestically and in the Champions League.

Of Leicester’s current squad, only a half-a-dozen have experience of playing in European football’s elite club competition. Those are Daniel Amartey (Copenhagen), Christian Fuchs (Schalke 04), Robert Huth (Chelsea) Gokhan Inler (Napoli), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow) and Marcin Kwasniewski (Anderlecht).

As such the majority of Leicester’s players are set to enter previously uncharted territory but since they can do so fearlessly given that they are embarking upon their new adventure under the excellent guidance of Ranieri.

The former Chelsea manager’s first assignment of the 2016-2017 will arrive on 7 August when Leicester face Manchester United in the community shield, before they start their Premier League campaign at the KC Stadium against Hull on 13 August.