It’s been a difficult summer so far for Leicester City. Following a terrible season in the Premier League in which they only managed to accumulate 25 points, 13 behind 17th place Tottenham Hotspur, Ruud Van Nistelrooy departed the King Power Stadium, being replaced by Marti Cifuentes. To make matters even worse, there have been rumours that the former Premier League Champions could be subject to a points deduction for some time.
At the moment, it seems inevitable that they will face a 9-point penalty for alleged PSR breaches sooner rather than later. If many of the teams in the Championship were to face this sanction themselves, it could be disastrous for them, but Leicester City, unsurprisingly, possess one of the strongest squads in the entire league, so bouncing back to the Premier League at the first time of asking is not completely out of the question.
After all, last season 22 points separated 6th place Bristol City and 3rd place Sheffield United. One thing that won’t make achieving promotion any easier is their current lack of incoming transfer business.
The only player that they have signed who wasn’t at the club last season is Asmir Begovic. Meanwhile, Mads Hermansen, Wilfred Ndidi and Jamie Vardy, among others, have all gone the other way.
Despite a poor season as a club, Hermansen was one of Leicester City’s few shining lights. His performances were enough for West Ham to bring him to the London Stadium for around £20m, reuniting him Hammers goalkeeping coach Casper Ankergren, whom he worked with at Brondby. So, who should be between the posts for the Foxes this season?
Jakub Stolarczyk
If Leicester City don’t sign a replacement for Hermansen, it is almost a certainty that Jakub Stolarczyk will be their number one for the upcoming season, having started their opening game against Sheffield Wednesday which they won 2-1. The Polish shot stopper joined the club’s academy in 2017 and has been there ever since, aside from a few loan spells. He made 10 Premier League appearances in the absence of Hermansen last season and did fairly well.
This would suggest that there is no immediate rush to replace him. However, prior to this season, Stolarczyk has only two Championship appearances to his name. He hasn’t played a lot of football in his senior career, but his performances last season may have been enough to secure a starting spot.
Asmir Begovic
The other goalkeeper on Leicester City’s books, Asmir Begovic becoming Leicester’s number one goalkeeper is fairly unlikely. However, it was only two seasons ago when Begovic was Cifuentes’s first choice at Queens Park Rangers where he made 46 appearances.
This one probably won’t happen, but it isn’t completely outside the realms of possibility if Stolarczyk isn’t performing. Could Begovic’s experience further his cause?
Paul Nardi
From Cifuentes’s starting goalkeeper from two seasons ago, to his starting goalkeeper from last season, Paul Nardi could be available for a reunion with his former manager. Nardi only joined QPR from Gent last season and made 45 Championship appearances under Cifuentes. Despite putting in some impressive performances during that time, it was reported that new QPR manager Julien Stephan favoured Joe Walsh for the number one spot.
This was a surprising decision, not only because of Nardi’s impressive performances, but also because of the fact that in his entire senior career so far, the 23-year-old Walsh has only made 43 appearances. The most appearances he has made in a single season was 18 and that was in the 2022/23 campaign. Walsh was given the start in Rangers’ first game of the season, a 1-1 draw at home against Preston at the weekend, marking only the third Championship appearance of his career.
Most of his experience has come in the fifth and sixth tiers of English football so it will be interesting to see if Stephan sticks with Walsh or if he will look to bring in a replacement. Either way, Nardi won’t be first choice, so a move to the King Power could be a possibility.
Viktor Johansson
When it was confirmed that Hermansen would be signing for West Ham, one of the first rumoured replacements was Stoke City goalkeeper Viktor Johansson and it’s easy to see why. Despite being part of a Stoke side that only survived relegation by 2 points last season and a Rotherham team that finished bottom with only 27 points and a minus 52 goal difference the season before, Johansson is still a quality goalkeeper.
The Foxes are no stranger to the Sweden international as he was a part of their academy between 2018 and 2020. It is unclear how likely this move is at this moment in time, but it does seem like a question of if, not when Johansson will get the big move that he deserves. If Leicester don’t try now, they might come to regret it. Johansson started in Stoke’s 3-1 victory over Derby on Saturday.
