Leicester City Transfer DealSheet: Summer window latest, key positions and likely exits

New York Times

03-06-2025

Leicester City's hierarchy don't say a lot publicly, but sometimes silence speaks a thousand words.
That is certainly the case with manager Ruud van Nistelrooy and his position at the club after relegation. The Dutchman has presented to owner Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha and director of football Jon Rudkin what he thinks needs to be done to get Leicester back into the Premier League next season.
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The chairman, known as Khun Top, has stated Leicester's hierarchy have begun planning has for the next campaign. The problem is, they haven't told Van Nistelrooy what that plan is.
It is fair to conclude Leicester's strategy may not include Van Nistelrooy, but what the plan actually is remains to be seen. There is a lot of work to be done this summer to get Leicester back on an even keel and in some sort of shape to mount a promotion challenge.
So what can we expect from Leicester this summer?
Usually, it is the manager who has the final say on recruitment so, until the identity of who will be leading Leicester into the Championship is known, very little will be done on incomings.
There is also a prospect of a business plan being imposed on the club by the EFL, restricting their budget and forcing them to sell assets.
As things stand Van Nistelrooy is still the manager, but after the final game of the season at Bournemouth he admitted he still hadn't had a planning meeting with the club's senior management with a view to next season.
Leicester could be waiting until the end of the financial year, at the end of June, to make a change so the cost of another managerial change is in the next financial year for profit and sustainability rule (PSR) purposes, but the longer the uncertainty continues, the more time is wasted.
All of them. Three first-team players left at the end of their contracts — Jamie Vardy, Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen — and there will inevitably have to be sales after relegation as Leicester look to readapt to life in the Championship.
Some assets will have to be sold, such as goalkeeper Mads Hermansen, and Leicester will also try to move on some of their higher earners as they try to conform to the financial restrictions and realities.
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As things stand, Leicester look OK in the full-back positions and the promotion of Ben Nelson after his loan at Oxford United will give them another option at centre-back.
Likewise, before sales, they look OK in defensive midfield too. Abdul Fatawu returning from injury will boost the wide options, and they have plenty of them, but goalkeeper and central striker positions are a problem.
There is so much uncertainty — not just about who the manager will be, but also what restrictions they may face in the EFL, which could restrict their ability to recruit.
Replacing Vardy. Even at the age of 38 he was the team's player of the season last year, as well as top scorer. He was also a hugely influential figure in the dressing room, a talisman for the other players and role model for the young professionals.
His departure leaves Leicester with just one striker, Patson Daka, who may be sold this summer if they can find a buyer, so they have to try to find a solution.
Likewise, the departures of Ward and Iversen leave them short of goalkeeping cover, especially as No 1 Hermansen is expected to be sold. Jakub Stolarczyk has shown he is ready to step up, but he needs cover.
Not at the moment, while there is so much uncertainty surrounding the manager's position and what the budget will be. Leicester don't want to make moves for players, bring them in, and then find that the next manager — if they do sack Van Nistelrooy — doesn't want them.
They made that mistake last summer when they handed Steve Cooper an £80million transfer kitty and sacked him after 12 games. Van Nistelrooy came in and only one new recruit made a consistent impact on the first team under him: Bilal El Khannouss.
The inconsistency in the philosophy of the five managers that Leicester have appointed across the last three seasons has led to a scattergun transfer policy.
If Van Nistelrooy stays, then Harry Winks and Jannik Vestergaard, two of the squad's higher earners, may have to move on. Neither featured in matchday squads towards the end of the season after falling out of favour.
Wout Faes and Victor Kristiansen may also need to move on, and will probably want to move too.
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The last time Leicester were in the Championship they tried to sell Boubakary Soumare, but had to settle for a season-long loan to Sevilla. He will likely move back to the continent, while time may also be up for Daka, who has failed to deliver consistently.
There will be nine players out of contract at the end of next season: Soumare, James Justin, Winks, Daka, Luke Thomas, Ricardo Pereira, Jordan Ayew, Conor Coady and Stolarczyk. If Leicester want to cash in on them this may be the last opportunity to do so.
Then there are the players they would like to keep but may have to sell for financial reasons, such as Hermansen and El Khannouss, who have both shown they can perform at Premier League level.
If permanent deals for contracted players can't be done because there are clubs unwilling to pay the asking price or the player's wage demands, then loans may be the only option to reduce the wage bill.
That was the case two years ago when Soumare went to Sevilla. Previous attempts to move on Vestergaard also failed.
Three out-of-contract players have already left, while eight of the development squad have been released, but until the matter of who will be the manager next season is settled and the club knows its position in terms of budget and profit and sustainability rule sanctions then there is so much uncertainty.
The only positive about relegation with five games still to go was that the club could have started their planning for the next season early to steal a march on many of their rivals, but they haven't taken that opportunity.
Leicester certainly won't have a £107m budget this time in the Championship. The fact they had a budget that was £30m more than their rivals upset a lot of people two years ago, including in the EFL, who forecasted they would be in breach of PSR and tried to impose a business plan on the club.
Leicester were able to fight off that challenge, arguing that such a sanction was premature as they were still in the process of readjusting to the Championship after having had the eighth-biggest budget in the Premier League when they were relegated.
That argument will be difficult to make this time and they are also facing three charges from the Premier League for breaching PSR for their last season in the Championship in 2023-24.
The timescale of the confidential process of those charges is not known, but it may not be until November that Leicester discover the outcome, and then there will be the appeal process.
They could be facing a hefty points deduction but they could also be facing a business plan this time. Life in the Championship will be significantly more difficult and complicated this time around.
(Top photos: Mads Hermansen, left, and Jamie Vardy; Getty Images)