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New York Times
27 minutes ago
- New York Times
Welcome to Leicester City, Marti Cifuentes – now here's what needs sorting
Welcome to the party, Marti Cifuentes. Leicester City's summer of drift has taken a step towards stability with the appointment of the Spaniard as manager. Cifuentes, 43, was Queens Park Rangers head coach since October 2023 and has his work cut out to lift the gloom. Relegated Leicester took an age to relieve Ruud van Nistelrooy of his duties amid a backdrop of potential sanctions for an alleged breach of profitability and sustainability rules. Oh, the Championship season starts in less than a month. Here, The Athletic breaks down the biggest challenges facing Cifuentes. There are 27 senior professionals on the books, plus a talented crop of academy graduates. The first task is to move on players with any market value or who are deemed surplus to requirements. Goalkeeper Mads Hermansen and playmaker Bilal El Khannouss will attract interest and bring in decent sums, but Leicester will be desperate to shift the high earners and underperformers, such as Wout Faes, Conor Coady and Boubakary Soumare. Advertisement But director of football Jon Rudkin does not have a good selling record of late, with Youri Tielemans, Caglar Soyuncu, Ayoze Perez and Kelechi Iheanacho leaving for free at the end of their contracts. Having previously sold one big asset each summer in the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Harry Maguire and reinvesting wisely, Leicester's transfer policy in the past few years has been below par. Kasper Schmeichel, Harvey Barnes and James Maddison brought in lower-than-anticipated fees while 2023-24 player of the season, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, moved to Chelsea for £30million ($40.2m at the current exchange rate) last July. Leicester may still get mileage out of long-serving trio James Justin, Ricardo Pereira and Wilfred Ndidi while it looks like they will be stuck with last summer's thirty-something signings Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid for another year. Leicester have a wealth of academy promise, with their Seagrave training facility paying dividends almost five years after opening. Should Hermansen depart, Jakub Stolarczyk, 24, appears a more than able successor, while 21-year-old centre-back Ben Nelson is well thought of and impressed during 16 starts on loan at Oxford United in the Championship last season. Many Leicester fans hope he forms a partnership with Caleb Okoli. There is a potentially dazzling array of talent going forward. Will Alves, 20, spent the second half of last season on loan at eventually-relegated Cardiff City after making his top-flight debut and representing England in three youth age groups. Jeremy Monga became the second-youngest player in Premier League history when he made his debut at 15 years and 271 days old against Newcastle United in April. Both are touted for big seasons. Louis Page, 17, scored twice in the 3-1 win against League One Peterborough United that began Leicester's pre-season on July 5 while winger Jake Evans, 16, made his first-team debut last season. Add in 18-year-old Olabade Aluko, Silko Thomas, 21, and Michael Golding, a 19-year-old signed from Chelsea last July, and Leicester have a nucleus of talent they believe Cifuentes — who has a track record in developing players — can nurture. Advertisement Abdul Fatawu, a standout in the 2023-24 Championship title-winning campaign alongside Stephy Mavididi on the opposite flank, missed the majority of his first Premier League campaign due to a November anterior cruciate ligament knee injury but will hope to pick up where he left off. Leicester are also preparing for life after the departure of their greatest player. Jamie Vardy spent 13 seasons at the club, scoring 200 goals in 500 games, helping them win the Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield and two Championship titles. He won the Premier League's Golden Boot in the 2019-20 season and played 26 times for England. He managed three league goals in 37 appearances in 2022-23, when Leicester went down despite having the seventh-highest wage bill in the country, but struck 18 times in 35 games as they bounced straight back up. Vardy, 38, managed a respectable nine goals and four assists in his 35 league matches last season. With those two relegations from the Premier League in the past three seasons, it could be argued that his departure was overdue but City never managed to complement or replace their No 9. Patson Daka was heralded as his successor. There were lofty expectations for the Zambia international after his arrival in summer 2021 after scoring 68 times in 125 games for Red Bull Salzburg, but despite scoring all four goals in a 4-3 defeat of Spartak Moscow in the following season's Europa League, he has only netted 23 times. Vardy's dependability meant the 26-year-old never had a run of games (only 61 of his 121 appearances have been starts), but it is now or never for Daka. One of the biggest criticisms of Leicester's board is the lack of consistency in their managerial appointments. Brendan Rodgers delivered two fifth-placed finishes (although they were in the Champions League places as the final day of the season began in 2020 and 2021), the FA Cup and Community Shield, but his sacking with 10 games to go in 2022-23 came too late. Advertisement Dean Smith was his successor after a fateful two-match spell with Mike Stowell and Adam Sadler in interim charge (Leicester lost both, and finished two points short of safety) but could not save them from the drop. The ownership looked to have struck gold that summer when they appointed Enzo Maresca, who led Leicester back to promotion, although there was still criticism from a section of the fanbase about the Italian's slow, possession-based system. There was sympathy for those in charge when Maresca left for Chelsea, taking Dewsbury-Hall with him — the pair have gone on to win the Conference League and Club World Cup. But the appointment of Steve Cooper, recently manager of local rivals Nottingham Forest, was not well received. Leicester were outside the relegation zone when Cooper was sacked in November after 12 Premier League games. Squad members were then pictured with a sign saying 'Enzo I miss u' during their pre-Christmas outing in Copenhagen. Van Nistelrooy was Cooper's replacement, having beaten Leicester twice in his four games as Manchester United's caretaker manager, but the appointment failed. City set a top-flight record as they failed to score in nine consecutive home games and were relegated with five matches to play. Cifuentes will be expected to implement a similar possession-based system to Maresca. That task will be different from the one he faced at QPR as Leicester will be expected to force the issue. The success of Maresca's side was built on a solid base — they conceded 41 times in 46 games, keeping 15 clean sheets. Leicester found the step up in divisions impossible as they shipped 80 in 38 league matches. Who plays in goal may be a decision taken out of Cifuentes' hands if Hermansen is sold but Justin, Coady, Faes and Victor Kristiansen all struggled in the back four last season, and all may well be moved on too. Luke Thomas did well at left-back despite the team's poor form and could be first choice. Advertisement Australia international centre-back Harry Souttar has returned from a loan at Sheffield United, while centre-back Jannik Vestergaard and Harry Winks, who impressed at the base of Maresca's midfield, were frozen out by Van Nistelrooy. They must be moved on or reintegrated. With a potential points deduction coming for breaching financial rules, a fast start is a must for Cifuentes. (Top photos: Getty Images)
Yahoo
33 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jim Cramer Warns Netflix Faces High Bar
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) is one of the stocks that Jim Cramer shared insights on. During the episode, Cramer emphasized the company's need to post good earnings. He remarked: 'After the close, we're treated to the most delightful of conference calls, Netflix. First thing, I have a dearth of things to watch right now. It's really starting to bug me. So I'm going to be listening to the conference call in part because they talk about all the great overseas programming. I get some terrific ideas of what to watch when I get home that night. The bar is very high for Netflix, though, which will have to tell us how their ad tier is going, how Squid Game did, and how NFL Christmas streaming football advertising's looking. A home theater with family members enjoying streaming content together. Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) provides streaming entertainment, including TV series, films, documentaries, and games across multiple genres and languages. While we acknowledge the potential of NFLX as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
33 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Goldman Sachs Remains Optimistic on AI Theme in Asia
Timothy Moe of Goldman Sachs says the firm remains "optimistic on the AI theme in Asia." He discusses his views on the region's technology sector on Bloomberg Television. (Source: Bloomberg)
