RazorsEdge
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Posts posted by RazorsEdge
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I'm late the FM24 party but I started as Brighton and have done reasonably well in my first season - a fifth place finish. I'm ready for the next season and my transfers are as follows:
I will be phasing out Gross, March, Veltman and Milner this season. Next season I will look to strengthen my central defenders as they are getting up there in age too.
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11 hours ago, Chapman7 said:
What role are people using Bruno in? Used to use him in Mezzela but since winter update been a struggle to find a role to get his G/A numbers as good. With Pogba as inconsistent need to find a role that gets Bruno going ideally in a 3 midfield(2CM 1DM)
CM-Attack
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
OFF-SEASON - INCOMING TRANSFERS 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester's first signing of the off-season was Red Bull Salzburg's Brenden Aaronson. The 22 year old American has impressed in his three seasons with the reigning Austrian champions. Capped 29 times for the United States national team, he is capable of playing anywhere in the midfield but is most at home as an attacking midfielder. The Yank, who cost Leicester £35M, will likely be James Maddison's understudy. This finally brings a conclusion to a long transfer saga with Aaronson's agent rejecting a contract offer made by the Foxes in last year's transfer window.
Óscar Mingueza was welcomed to the King Power Stadium from Barcelona for a modest fee of £5.5M. The versatile Spanish defender, who can play anywhere in a back four, has spent most of his recent time with the Barcelona B squad. He did, however, make 27 appearances during Barca's 2020/2021 campaign so he does have some pedigree for top flight football. Leicester fans were a tad disappointed with this transfer as it wasn't the big name centre back signing they were expecting, with Mingueza likely to be no more than a squad player, however there would be more signings to come.
Leicester's next signing addressed their needs at the fullback position. Vitaliy Mykolenko is a 24 year old Ukrainian left fullback/wingback who can also play centrally in a pinch. His arrival for £12.25M along with the departure of Ricardo Pereira will mean that James Justin will move back to the right hand side of defence. Mykolenko joins from Dynamo Kyiv where he has enjoyed a few very productive seasons, picking up player of the match honours four times in the last season.
21 year old Portuguese goalkeeper Samuel Soares was the next signing for Leicester. Signed for just £1.5M from Benfica, where he exclusively played for the B team, Leicester will be looking for Soares to potentially develop into the next Kasper Schmeichel. Soares was immediately loaned out to Huddersfield in the Championship to gain more first team experience.
The second Ukrainian to arrive at Leicester this transfer window is central defender Illya Zabarnyi. He also joins from Dynamo Kyiv where he has enjoyed playing with Vitaliy Mykolenko. Zabarnyi joins Leicester for £32.5M after three very successful seasons with the Dynamo first team. Zabarnyi, who has already been capped 33 times at just 21 years of age, can also play as a right fullback if absolutely necessary but look for him to be deployed almost exclusively in the centre of defence.
If you look up 'versatility' in the dictionary you will likely find a picture of 25 year old German Ridle Baku. Capable of playing in every outfield position except as a striker, he prefers to be deployed as either a right fullback or a central midfielder. It is the latter position that he is likely to play in after the departures of Youri Tielemans and Bruno Guimarães. Baku, who has been capped 21 times by Germany, was signed from Wolfsburg for a Leicester club record £46.5M.
That transfer record would only stand for a matter of days, however, as Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips would join Leicester for £53M. Phillips, who is 27, is a ball winning midfielder with a huge tank of energy. He will likely line up next to Baku as the more defensively minded central midfielder.
Leicester's final signing of the transfer window would come in the form of 23 year old Turk Ozan Kabak. Kabak has experience in the Premier League after having loan spells with Liverpool and Norwich City, before moving to Marseille at the start of the 2022/2023 season. Kabak has signed on a loan deal with an agreed potential transfer fee of £40M. Kabak has likely been signed to bring some more experience to the centre of defence while Bryan Okoh and Illya Zabarnyi develop. He joins Çağlar Söyüncü, who will be his partner in defence, as the second Turk at the club.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
OFF-SEASON - OUTGOING TRANSFERS 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester had a busy off-season transfer-wise with a bunch of players leaving (including two big first team names) and lots of players arriving.
Firstly Dennis Praet, who spent the last season on loan with Championship winners Southampton, has made his move to Saint Mary's Stadium permanent for a fee of just under £14M. Jannik Vestergaard, who was on loan with Benfica in Portugal, also made his move permanent with a fee of £11.5M securing his services. Boubakary Soumaré would leave to join Villareal for £5M.
Moving onto players who were actually in and around the first team at Leicester last season and the first big name to depart was veteran defender Jonny Evans. Evans contract wasn't renewed and the central defender has made a surprise switch by joining Cruz Azul in Mexico. Fullback Ryan Bertrand, who had a year left to run on his current deal, joined Sassuolo for a modest £2M fee. Bertrand, who is 34, was Leicester's first choice left back for much of last season until James Justin switched to the left flank to make way for Ricardo Pereira on the right.
Speaking of Ricardo Pereira, the Portuguese would sign for newly promoted Newcastle for a whopping £50M. Leicester manager Phillip Smith was quoted as saying that they didn't want to let the fullback leave the King Power Stadium, but felt that both the fee for Leicester and the contract for Ricardo were too good to turn down.
Leicester's number 1 central defender, Wesley Fofana, would leave the King Power Stadium. The young Frenchman was the subject of an £86M bid from Liverpool, a fee that was far too good to turn down. Fofana, who had been part of a rock solid partnership with Çağlar Söyüncü, said that he was excited for the next chapter in his career but would always cherish his memories of his time at Leicester and thanked the support of their fans.
The other big name to leave Leicester would be number 1 central midfielder Youri Tielemans. The 26 year old Belgian joins Premier League champions Arsenal in an £80M deal. Tielemans, who played 27 Premier League games last season, was said to be grateful for his time at Leicester and left the door open to a potential return in the future.
Kelechi Iheanacho was the next player to go with the Nigerian heading to Anfield as he joins Liverpool in a £28M deal. Manager Phillip Smith was adamant that Iheanacho was not for sale as he had played admirably for most of the season as James Maddison's backup in the attacking midfield role but Iheanacho would force a move through, saying that it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
The final player to leave Leicester would be the expensive flop Bruno Guimarães. Guimarães heads back to the French Ligue 1, joining up with Paris Saint-Germain in a £31M deal - leaving Leicester with a loss of £8M after just one season. Guimarães just wasn't able to get into a good groove in the middle of the park and was often outperformed by Hamza Choudhury and Aster Vranckx, players that should have been his deputies.
With all these transfers out it leaves a big hole in Leicester's team sheet. They will need a new central midfield unit, a new central defender and a new fullback at the very least, with more players likely to arrive to add squad depth.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
MAY 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester open up the last month of the season with a home fixture against Watford. The visitors struck first with Ozan Tufan finding Ignacio Pussetto just outside the box to score from range in the 11th minute. Kelechi Iheanacho was able to get the ball to a just onside Ademola Lookman who fired it in from a tight angle to level things up in the 40th minute. Youri Tielemans chipped the ball in for a wide open Marc Albrighton to volley home in the first few minutes of the second half. Lookman would find Albrighton cutting in from the right to shoot and score his second in the 74th minute to secure the 3-1 victory for Leicester.
An away trip to Brentford was on the cards next. Kasper Schmeichel notched his second assist of the season after booting the ball up the pitch for Gonçalo Ramos to run onto and score in the 16th minute. Nico Williams went down in the box in the 22nd minute. He avoided injury, however, as Kelechi Iheanacho put the penalty away. Hamza Choudhury would find the pacy Williams in the 38th minute, who would send the ball into the back of the net for Leicester's third and final goal of the match.
Leicester hosted Leeds next. Youri Tielemans would find James Justin coming in from the right for the fullback's first goal of the season in the 5th minute of play. Tielemans would double the score with a beautifully placed free kick that landed in the top right corner of the net in the 10th minute. Mateusz Klich would play the ball to Raphinha who would put one past Kasper Schmeichel in the 61st minute. Just one minute later and Ademola Lookman would intercept a clearing ball and go on a tremendous solo run before chipping Illan Meslier. Lookman would fire in Leicester's fourth and final goal in the 84th minute after dispossessing Diego Llorente. Leicester walk out 4-1 winners.
A trip to Wembley was up next as Leicester would play Manchester City in the FA Cup Final. In what will surely go down as one of the most boring cup finals of all time, neither team were really able to bother their opposing 'keepers. That was until Raheem Sterling was able to steal the ball from the feet of Wesley Fofana and put it past Kasper Schmeichel to secure the 1-0 win for Manchester City. This marked the 7th time City have won the cup and the first since 2019.
Leicester played bottom placed Burnley on the final day of the season. They were still able to claim the Premier League title, dependent on other fixtures going their way. Ricardo Pereira was able to get a cross in for Jamie Vardy to head home in the 2nd minute. Marc Albrighton placed a perfect corner on Vardy's head in the 14th minute for the second goal. Youri Tielemans would send a long pass forward to Vardy in the 53rd minute for the evergreen striker to secure his hat-trick. Harvey Barnes played a ball back to Tielemans to score from range in the 69th minute. Christian Benteke played a ball off to Luka Milivojević to peg one back for Burnley in the 80th minute. Marc Albrighton found Gonçalo Ramos open in the box to score a fifth goal in the 87th minute. And finally, Kelechi Iheanacho would find Harvey Barnes cutting in from the left flank to fire home the final goal in injury time. Leicester would secure the 6-1 victory, however they would not win the Premier League with other fixtures not going their way.
Arsenal were crowned Premier League champions for the first time since their famous 2003/2004 Invincibles season. They finished just a solitary point ahead of Liverpool and Leicester. Brentford, Fulham and Burnley would be relegated from the top flight while Southampton, Newcastle and Crystal Palace would all re-join the Premier League. Around Europe and Liverpool defeated Napoli 2-1 in the Champions League Final with goals coming from Mohammad Salah and James Milner. In the Europa League RB Leipzig would defeat AC Milan 2-1. And finally in the Europa Conference League Arsenal would defeat Spanish team Real Sociedad 1-0 with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scoring the lone goal.
So Leicester would finish 3rd in the Premier League after leading it at various stages throughout the year. This Leicester team has looked particularly dominate at times, however, it remains to be seen whether manager Phillip Smith can keep his team together or whether the multitude of clubs circling his players will snatch them away. One would think that his immediate attention would be to find a stable partner for Youri Tielemans in the centre of midfield with Bruno Guimarães spectacularly failing after his arrival from Lyon. The Brazilian would be outperformed by both Hamza Choudhury and Aster Vranckx in midfield and looks to go down as a £38M pound flop.
LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB TEAM OF THE YEAR:
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
APRIL 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester visited Villa Park in their first match of the month taking on 10th placed Aston Villa. Emi Buendia passed the ball backwards for defender Tyrone Mings to rifle home from range in the 38th minute. Villa's young Portuguese Tiago Tomás sent a ball perfectly placed for Buendia to run onto and put past Kasper Schmeichel to secure the 2-0 upset over the league leaders.
Before their next match there was some good news from the King Power Stadium. James Justin, who has become ever reliable in both fullback positions, signed a new 5 year deal worth £27M. Manager Phillip Smith said it was a no brainer to lock the young defender down as he has become one of their best attacking outlets on the field.
Leicester hosted West Bromwich Albion in their second match of the month. Marc Albrighton sent a free kick in from the right flank for Jamie Vardy to header home in the 12th minute. Cédric Kipré would bring Vardy down in the box in the 27th minute with the striker converting his penalty. Leicester engaged in some time wasting tactics and played out the rest of their match with a low sense of urgency, saving their stamina for their next match.
The FA Cup Semi Final was up next with Leicester playing Championship team Southampton. Jonny Evans booted a ball upfield that Youri Tielemans got on the end of and put in the back of the net in the 17th minute. Ademola Lookman would give the ball to Jamie Vardy who would score from a tight angle in the 58th minute. Manuel Lanzini would find Vedat Muriqi open in the box in the 82nd minute to peg one back for the Saints. Leicester's defence held out for the rest of the match, however, with the Foxes leaving 2-1 winners. This would setup a date with Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.
Leicester played 8th placed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge next. Youri Tielemans had a shot blocked with the rebound falling at Bruno Guimarães feet, who sent it into the back of the net from long range in the 11th minute. Kai Havertz was able to get the ball to Romelu Lukaku to score in the 27th minute. Édouard Mendy would fumble a ball headed back to him by Andreas Christiansen allowing Marc Albrighton to steal the ball and put it away in the 34th minute. James Justin would chip a ball into the box for Gonçalo Ramos to head home in the 78th minute, securing the 3-1 win for Leicester.
Tottenham visited the King Power Stadium next. Gonçalo Ramos was able to find Harvey Barnes just onside for the winger to shoot and score in the 13th minute. Danny Ings would intercept a Bryan Okoh pass in the 30th minute, putting the ball past Kasper Schmeichel with ease. The match looked like it was going to play out to be a draw until Ademola Lookman fed the ball back to Hamza Choudhury, who scored one of his trademark long range goals in the 86th minute to win the match.
Leicester would host Manchester City next. Rodri was sent off for a disgusting tackle on Youri Tielemans in the 34th minute. Unfortunately for Leicester they were unable to take advantage of their extra man with the match playing out to a 0-0 draw. This point would, however, guarantee Leicester a spot in the top 5 and, at minimum, Europa League football next season.
Leicester would travel to play Arsenal for their final match of the month. Héctor Bellerín send a killer through ball for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to get on the end of and put past Kasper Schmeichel in the 19th minute. Leicester tried their hardest, dominating in most stats, but were unable to find a goal and left the Emirates with no points.
Leicester slide down the table to 3rd with Manchester United and Arsenal ahead of them. For the final month of the season they will play Watford, Brentfod, Leeds United, Manchester City (in the FA Cup Final) and finally Burnley to round out the season.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
MARCH 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester began March with disappointment as they lost in the Europa Conference League Second Knockout Round to Feyenoord. Things were still 0-0 after 30 minutes of extra time so it came down to penalties. Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho and Marc Albrighton all scored but Çağlar Söyüncü and Bruno Guimarães had their's saved.
The disappointment continuted in the Premier League as Leicester lost 1-0 at home to Everton. The match was largely lacking in highlights besides Richarlison playing a through ball for Dominic Calvert-Lewin to get on the end of and put past Kasper Schmeichel in the 75th minute.
The Fifth Round tie of the FA Cup was next as Leicester hosted Arsenal. Gonçalo Ramos intercepted a Takehiro Tomiyasu header and put it past Bernd Leno in the 37th minute. James Justin went on a nice run and switched the ball over for Ademola Lookman to shoot and score from a tight angle in the 66th minute. Leicester's defence were impressive with Çağlar Söyüncü and Wesley Fofana not letting any of the relentless Arsenal attacks to amount to anything.
An away trip to Old Trafford was up next. After a quiet first half, Bruno Guimarães got the ball to Jamie Vardy who put it past David De Gea in the 49th minute. Javi Galen crossed a ball in for Harry Maguire to head home and even things up in the 73rd minute. Just a minute later Gonçalo Ramos would chip a ball for Nico Williams to head home and secure the victory for Leicester.
The FA Cup Quarter Final against Leeds was next, with the previously scheduled Manchester City Premier League match to be held at a later date. Marc Albrighton played a nice ball for Jamie Vardy to put past Illan Meslier in the 11th minute. Raphinha sent a pass into the box that Çağlar Söyüncü inadvertently knocked into his own net to level things up in the 24th minute. Albrighton played a through ball to Ademola Lookman, who expertly put it away in the 29th minute. Douglas Santos found Daniel James on a brilliant run cutting in from the wing to score in the 67th minute. Lookman would send a cross in for Albrighton to header home in the 78th minute. Just a minute later Jack Harrison would feed the ball to Patrick Bamford who would score from long range. The match ended 3-3 with penalties to decide the winner. Jamie Vardy, Ricardo Pereira, Gonçalo Ramos, Ademola Lookman and Ryan Bertrand all dispatched their penalties perfectly, with Douglas Santos of Leeds being the player unfortunate enough to have his penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel, knocking Leeds out of the cup. Leicester would draw Southampton for the Semi Final.
The month of April will be a hectic one for Leicester. They'll start with Premier League fixtures against Aston Villa and West Brom before facing Southampton in the FA Cup Semi Final. Matches against Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City (which was initially slated for March until it clashed with the FA Cup Quarter Final tie) and Arsenal will see out the month. Leicester maintain their hold on the top sport on the table but only barely with two points all that separates the top 5 teams.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
FEBRUARY 2023 ROUND UP:
Leicester began the month of February by visiting Manchester City. Marc Albrighton put Jamie Vardy through on goal for his 20th goal of the season in the 40th minute. Gabriel Jesus was able to intercept a Kasper Schmeichel throw and then proceeded to chip the ball back over the Leicester 'keeper in the 73rd minute. João Cancelo found Ferran Torres lurking outside the box to hammer one home from long range in the 83rd minute, earning Manchester City the 2-1 victory.
The King Power Stadium hosted FA Cup Fourth Round action next as Leicester played West Ham. The first half was a dull affair with neither team getting on the scoreboard. Jamie Vardy played a ball back to Ademola Lookman who fired it in from a tight angle to score in the 65th minute. The match would end 1-0 to Leicester. Harvey Barnes would go down with a twisted ankle and be ruled out for the better part of a month. For the Fifth Round of the FA Cup Leicester drew Arsenal.
An away trip to play Wolves in the Premier League was up next. Nothing of note happened in the first half outside of Jamie Vardy being through on goal looking certain to score only for the whistle to blow for offside. Nico Williams was tripped in the box in the second half and Vardy expertly put the penalty away to give Leicester the 1-0 win.
Leicester hosted Brighton next. For the second game in a row Nico Williams was brought down inside the box and once again the penalty was converted, this time by Kelechi Iheanacho, in just the 8th minute. Iheanacho passed the ball off to Gonçalo Ramos who scored from long range in the 55th minute. Ademola Lookman sent a cross in for Ramos to head home in the 63rd minute, wrapping up the scoring at 3-0. Kasper Schmeichel had a fine game in goal and earned himself Premier League Team of the Week honours alongside Bryan Okoh and Kelechi Iheanacho.
The Europa Conference League First Knockout Round fixture against Red Star Belgrade was next. James Maddison managed to switch the ball from the left to the right to Marc Albrighton who rifled home a shot from a tight angle in the 63rd minute. Ryan Bertrand sent a corner in that Kelechi Iheanacho headed down to Jamie Vardy's feet for the striker to put away just 5 minutes later. Maddison played a through ball to Iheanacho who found himself one-on-one with the 'keeper, resulting in Iheanacho chipping him in the 85th minute to secure the 3-0 win. Leicester would draw Feyenoord as opponents for the Second Knockout Round.
An away trip to play Norwich at Carrow Road was up next with the scoring opening almost immediately. Marc Albrighton sent a corner in that was headed by Wesley Fofana, saved by Angus Gunn, with the rebound being dispatched into the back of the net by Jamie Vardy. Çağlar Söyüncü gave a penalty away after tripping Teemu Pukki who followed up by scoring in the 8th minute. Norwich went ahead when Pukki received a nice through ball from Milot Rashica in the 25th minute. Leicester looked like losing until Albrighton put Vardy through one-on-one with Gunn, putting the ball past the 'keeper's left hand side in injury time, rescuing the 2-2 draw. Disappointing news would come out of the game with James Maddison suffering a bad hip injury. Early indications are that he will miss the remainder of the 2022-2023 Premier League season.
Leicester visited Anfield for their final match of the month with Paulo Dybala finding Sadio Mane unmarked in the box in the 24th minute. Kelechi Iheanacho, starting in place of James Maddison, got the ball to Ademola Look who rounded the 'keeper and put it away in the 57th minute. Hamza Choudhury got the ball to young winger Nico Williams who scored in the 85th minute for the winner. Youri Tielemans would leave the match with fractured ribs, estimated to be out for 2-3 weeks.
March will bring the Europa Conference League match against Feyenoord first. A match against Everton in the Premier League will follow. Leicester will then play Arsenal in the FA Cup Fifth Round, followed by Manchester United and Manchester City in the Premier League.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
JANUARY 2023 ROUND UP:
The New Year got underway with Leicester hosting Burnley at the King Power Stadium, where Marc Albrighton was in fine form. Jamie Vardy passed the ball back out of the box for Albrighton to hammer home in the 38th minute. Just a few minutes later Bruno Guimarães crossed the ball in for Albrighton to header home. In the second half James Justin was able to fire in a cross for Çağlar Söyüncü to head pass the 'keeper. Burnley got a consolation goal just before time ran out with Ashley Barnes playing a through ball to Ali Akman who caught the Leicester defence unaware to score, with the match ending 3-1 in favour of the Foxes.
Kelechi Iheanacho was the subject of a £18M bid from West Ham. Manager Phillip Smith sat down with Iheanacho and discussed his future, which led to the club rejected West Ham's bid. Iheanacho isn't a first up starter but he does play a decent number of matches so the player remains happy at Leicester. Jannik Vestergaard found himself on the way out with a loan to Benfica sorted. The Portuguese team are obligated to pay £11.5M at the end of the loan to make the signing permanent. Finally, fullback Luke Thomas found himself recalled from his productive loan spell at Southampton to take his place in the Leicester squad. In addition to being recalled, Thomas signed a new 4-year deal with the club.
An away trip to play Plymouth Argyle was next for the FA Cup Third Round. Gonçalo Ramos was ruled offside after scoring in the 19th minute. Harvey Barnes crossed the ball to his opposite in Nico Williams for the Spaniard to fire home in the 25th minute. Panutche Camará would find Conor Grant open in the box in the 37th minute to bring things back to equal terms. In the second half Leicester had their second goal disallowed for offside when Barnes was caught by the offside trap. Bruno Guimarães chipped in a ball for Jamie Vardy to volley home in the 70th minute. Finally, Nico Williams sent the ball in low to Vardy for the striker to rifle home in the 85th minute to secure the 3-1 victory. Leicester would draw West Ham for the Fourth Round.
Carabao Cup action was up next with an away trip to Wolves in Quarter Final action. Marcos Alonso would find Ryan Kent open in the box in just the 5th minute to open the scoring for the home team. Willy Boly unleashed Fábio Vieira with a killer through ball for Wolves' second in the 25th minute. Ricardo Pereira would send a cross in for Jamie Vardy to volley home in the 50th minute. Vardy continued the scoring after he stole the ball from Boly and put it past the 'keeper in the 68th minute. Ross Barkley would get the ball to Pedro Neto to put away in the 81st minute and claim the 3-2 victory to Wolves.
An away trip to Elland Road to face Leeds was up next. Marc Albrighton sent a corner in for Çağlar Söyüncü to head home in the 19th minute. No further scoring took place despite Leicester dominating in the attacking half of the pitch, and the match ended 1-0.
Leicester welcomed Fulham next in a match that was Marc Albrighton's 250th league appearance for the Foxes. Harvey Barnes played a through ball to perfection for Gonçalo Ramos to run onto and score in the 13th minute. Kelechi Iheanacho would set the ball up for Hamza Choudhury to score a classic goal from well outside the box in the 34th minute. In the second half Fulham defender Alfie Mawson put the ball in his own net as he tried to cut off a Nico Williams pass. Marc Albrighton got involved in the action when he passed the ball to Gonçalo Ramos to secure his brace just before time ran out, securing the 4-0 victory.
An away trip to face Watford was next on the cards. Ismaila Sarr got the ball to João Pedro to open the scoring in the 47th minute. Just a few minutes later Sarr managed to get the ball to Domingos Quina who put the ball in the back of the net for Watford's second. Leicester struck back when James Maddison passed the ball to Hamza Choudhury who fired it in from long range for his second fantastic goal in two matches. Kasper Schmeichel got a rare assist when he punted the ball up the field for Jamie Vardy to get on the end of and chip the 'keeper in the 69th minute. The match fizzled out from there on, ending up a 2-2 draw.
Leicester hosted West Ham next and there's very little to say about this match as no scoring took place, nor did either team really look like scoring. A 0-0 draw.
Leicester visited Bournemouth for the last game of the month. Jonjoe Kenny passed the ball to Jefferson Lerma who put it past Kasper Schmeichel for the opening goal of the match. It took until the 84th minute for the scoresheet to be changed with Kelechi Iheanacho passing the ball off to Ademola Lookman, who cut in from the left and scored from a tight angle. Just a few minutes later Nico Williams was able to put the ball in the air for Jamie Vardy to head home the winner as Leicester won 2-1.
There was very little transfer noise coming from Leicester in January as they simply did not have any cash to spend. Boubakary Soumaré was recalled from his loan at Lazio after barely playing. He was offered out to clubs but rejected contract offers from 9 different clubs, opting to stay at Leicester, even if there isn't really a role for him to play.
Leicester end the month still on top of the table, 4 points ahead of Liverpool. The month of February will get underway with an away trip to face Manchester City. The FA Cup Fourth Round match against West Ham takes place at the King Power Stadium after that. Wolves and Brighton are up next in the Premier League, followed by the Europa Conference League First Knockout Round fixture against Red Star Belgrade. Premier League action rounds out the month with matches against Norwich and close rivals Liverpool.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
DECEMBER 2022 ROUND UP:
After the mid-season break Leicester returned to play three friendly matches. The first they won against Royal Antwerp, the second they lost to Beerschot and the third they also were disappointed to lose to Young Boys of Switzerland. There was some positive news for one Leicester player, however, as England defeated France 2-1 in the final of the World Cup, yes, it's coming home! James Justin sat on the substitutes bench as he had done for much of the tournament, only amassing around 90 minutes of action, but that was enough to give him a medal and a memory he'll never forget.
Leicester's first competitive match back after the break took place at the King Power Stadium, with the Foxes hosting Brentford. Unfortunately neither team could break the deadlock in what was a surprisingly even affair, with both sides equal on 10 shots at goal.
Leicester hosted reigning champions Liverpool in the next match. The home supporters held their breath as Jamie Vardy appeared to go down injured as he was subjected to a tough tackle from Virgil Van Dijk in the box that earned him a penalty. Vardy waved off help from the physios and got up to take his penalty, placing it perfectly to Alisson's right hand side. Liverpool dominated possession and had more shots on goal than Leicester but were unable to fight their way back into the match, resulting in a 1-0 win for the Foxes.
Leicester would finish the month on top of the Premier League table 2 points clear of closest rivals Manchester City. January shapes up to be a busy month as Leicester start by taking on Burnley. A FA Cup Third Round match against Plymouth is next, followed by the Carabao Cup Quarter Final against Wolves. Premier League matches against Leeds, Fulham, Watford, West Ham and Bournemouth round out a hectic month.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
NOVEMBER 2022 ROUND UP:
The month of November would begin with the Foxes flying out to the Netherlands to play sc Heerenveen in their last Europa League group match. Ademola Lookman chipped a short cross in for Nico Williams to head home in the 12th minute giving the visitors the early advantage. Ricardo Pereira would send a lowish cross in for Lookman to volley home in the 41st minute. The score wouldn't change from there on as Leicester secured a 2-0 victory. The victory was in vain, however, as Leicester ended up 3rd in their group on goal difference and were knocked out of the Europa League to go and play in the Europa Conference League.
An absolute belter of a match against Chelsea at the King Power Stadium was up next. James Maddison would place the ball on Harvey Barnes head in the 32nd minute, before Jamie Vardy would intercept a pass from Chelsea 'keeper Edouard Mendy and put it straight pass hmi in the 34th. Ryan Bertrand would fire in a free kick from just outside the box in the 53rd minute. Ademola Lookman played a nice through ball for Vardy to get on the end of in the 74th minute. Faustino Anjorin would find Kai Havertz open in the box to peg one back for Chelsea in the 78th minute. Lookman unleashed another killer through ball for Vardy to get on the end of to wrap up his hat-trick. Mason Mount would pass the ball back for Anjorin to send home from outside the box in the 85th minute to wrap up the scoring and end the match as a 5-2 victory for Leicester. Harvey Barnes picked up an injury, strained ankle ligaments, that would keep him out for 2 weeks. James Justin, Lookman and Vardy were all named in the Premier League Team of the Week.
Leicester hosted another team from the capital next, with Arsenal visiting. Marc Albrighton sent in a corner for Bruno Guimarães to chest down and punt home in the 11th minute. The rest of the affair was relatively even, with Leicester just about edging it as the dominant side. Unfortunately there was no more scoring, however, and the match ended 1-0.
The final match of the month would see Leicester travel to play Tottenham. After a dull first half, Marc Albrighton played a ball over the top of the Spurs defence for Jamie Vardy to get on the end of and put home. James Maddison would feed the ball back to Hamza Choudhury in the 78th minute, who rocketed it home from long range. Facundo Farías found Harry Kane open in the box in the 85th minute to score a consolation goal for Spurs as this one ended 2-1.
The Premier League would go on break for the next month or so with the World Cup set to be played in Qatar. After that, in late December, Leicester will host both Brentford and Liverpool in the Premier League. They will be looking to upset reigning champions Liverpool who only sit ahead of Leicester in 1st place on goal difference.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
OCTOBER 2022 ROUND UP:
The first match of October would be a home match against Manchester United. Marc Albrighton would switch the ball from the right flank to his opposite on the left, Harvey Barnes, who would dispatch the ball into the back of the net in the 6th minute to give the Foxes the lead. A back and forth affair would take place with both teams being rather evenly matched. Paul Pogba was able to play a killer through ball to Cristiano Ronaldo to put away in the 72nd minute. Leicester would avoid a draw, however, when Ryan Bertrand sent a corner in for Wesley Fofana to head home for the winning goal in the 85th minute.
Next Leicester would host League One side Fleetwood Town in the Carabao Cup 4th round. The match would end 0-0 after full-time, leaving many Leicester fans disappointed. Youri Tielemans, Kelechi Iheanacho, Ricardo Pereira, Gonçalo Ramos and Ryan Bertrand would all put their penalties away in the shootout, while Remy Longdon would have his saved for Fleetwood, sending the minnows crashing out. Bruno Guimarães suffered a damaged foot in the match and would be ruled out for 2-3 weeks.
Leicester would host Aston Villa next. Wesley Fofana would score for the second time this month after heading in a Marc Albrighton corner in the 43rd minute. Emi Buendia would find Tiago Tomás open to equalize for Villa just a minute later. Youri Tielemans would send a free kick into the back of the net minutes later. Albrighton would feed the ball to Tielemans for him to thunder home from long range in the 70th minute, securing the 3-1 victory. Fofana and Tielemans were named in the Premier League Team of the Week for their performances.
An away trip to Valencia was up next and there was very little to report. Neither team really got on top of the other and the match played out to be a boring 0-0 draw.
Leicester visited West Bromwich Albion next and secured a 2-0 victory early in the match. Aster Vranckx found Nico Williams in the box, Williams passed the ball backwards to Ademola Lookman who hit the back of the net from long range in the 3rd minute. Not even 10 minutes later Hamza Choudhury would play a through ball for Gonçalo Ramos to run onto and put in the back of the net. After good displays in defence and midfield, respectively, Bryan Okoh and Hamza Choudhury would be named in the Premier League Team of the Week.
Europa League action was up next for Leicester, this time facing Atalanta at home. Mattia Zaccagni found Teun Koopmeiners open in the 11th minute to put the Italians ahead. Leicester tried their hardest to get back into the game and were unfortunate not to equalize after a Jamie Vardy goal was ruled offside. Joakim Mæhle would put Zaccagni through on goal for an easy second in the 68th minute and things would stay that way until the match ended with Atalanta walking away 2-0 winners.
An away match to face Fulham was up next. Ryan Bertrand crossed the ball into the box for Nico Williams to put away in the 5th minute. Just a few minutes later Kelechi Iheanacho would get the ball to Jamie Vardy, who would break an 8 hour goal drought. Will Hughes played the ball perfectly for Tino Kadewere to run onto and goal in the 3th minute. Fábio Carvalho would unleash Harry Wilson in the 65th minute, bringing things equal. Iheanacho found Vardy wide open in the 71st minute to take the lead once more. The match would be rounded out when Ricardo Pereira sent a ball for Hamza Choudhury to hammer home from long range to secure the 4-2 victory. Pereira, Iheanacho and Vardy would all make the Premier League Team of the Week, while Wesley Fofana would win Young Player of the Month, with manager Phillip Smith winning Manager of the Month.
Looking ahead to November and Leicester have a must win clash against sc Heerenveen up first. They need the points plus goal difference to be kind to them to advance from the group stage. After that comes home matches against Chelsea and Arsenal, before an away trip to Tottenham rounds out the month.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
SEPTEMBER 2022 ROUND UP:
Leicester hosted Swansea in the 3rd round of the Carabao Cup to kick off the month of September. New signing Nico Williams was given a surprise debut on the right wing and repaid his manager's faith by tapping in a goal from a Ryan Bertrand cross early in the second half. Nothing of any real substance would occur for the rest of the match with the Foxes securing a 1-0 win. Leicester would go on to draw Fleetwood Town for the 4th round of the Carabao Cup.
Youri Tielemans 125th league appearance for Leicester took place at the King Power Stadium against Norwich, and while Tielemans didn't have a great game himself, the Foxes certainly did. Marc Albrighton sent a corner in for Jamie Vardy to head homee in the 25th minute. Max Aarons tried to head the ball back to his 'keeper in the 50th minute but had it intercepted by the ever dangerous Vardy who scored his second. James Justin went on a fantastic run down the right flank before sending the ball in for Vardy to volley home in the 71st minute for his hat-trick as Leicester cruised to a 3-0 win.
A weakened Leicester team would host sc Heerenveen in Europa League action next. Gonçalo Ramos started his first match for Leicester and made a quick impact when he headed home an Ademola Lookman corner in the 20th minute to score his first goal for the club. Tibor Halilović would play a through ball for Okyere Wriedt to run onto and put past Kasper Schmeichel in the 53rd minute. Things looked as if they would play out to a draw until Ricardo Pereira sent a low cross in for substitute Jamie Vardy to hammer home in extra time for the 2-1 victory.
Europa League action continued next with Leicester traveling away to Atalanta. It would be an absolutely embarrassing game for Leicester as they would go on to lose 3-0. Robin Gosens would find Luis Muriel wide open in just the 2nd minute for the first goal. David Zappacosta would pass the ball to Mario Pašalić just outside the box, who would hit a thundering strike into the back of the net. Zappacosta would get his second assist when he found Matteo Pessina open for the third and final goal of the match.
An away trip to Goodison Park to face Everton was up next but unfortunately there was very little action to report. Leicester had over double the amount of shots on goal as the Toffees did but neither team were able to convert and this one ended as a 0-0 draw.
Leicester would face Valencia at home for the final match of September, hoping to get their Europa League campaign back on track. Valencia would somewhat spoil their plans, however, with Jose Gaya scoring a free kick from long range in the 22nd minute. Leicester were able to bring things all square in the 53rd minute when Nico Williams found his opposite winger in Ademola Lookman for a goal from a tight angle. Things would remain even and end at 1-1.
October looks to be a busy month starting off with a home match against Manchester United. The Carabao Cup 4th Round match against Fleetwood Town at home follows, before another home match against Aston Villa in the Premier League. An away trip to Valencia in the Europa League is up next, followed by an away trip to West Brom, a home match against Atalanta, and an away match against Fulham to round out the month.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
AUGUST 2022 ROUND UP:
The new Premier League season started for Leicester with an absolute belting of Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium. It all started when James Maddison found Ademola Lookman open after cutting in from the left wing in the 7th minute. Lookman would repay the favour just a few minutes later, heading a ball to Maddison's feet to put past the 'keeper. Youri Tielemans would play a killer through ball for Maddison to run onto and net making it 3-0. Jamie Vardy cut back and passed the ball to a wide open Marc Albrighton who scored from a tight angle in the 29th minute. Albrighton would be involved in the next goal as he passed the ball to James Maddison who put a powerful shot in the back of the net for his first half hat-trick. Just two minutes later James Justin would find his partner on the right, Marc Albrighton, in the box wide open again for his second of the match. In the second half Leicester played with a lot less urgency and were in self preservation mode trying not to pick up any injuries. Çağlar Söyüncü had a shot after a corner found him open in the box but it was intercepted by Kortney Hause who bungled the possession and ended up putting the ball in his own net. Aster Vranckx and Gonçalo Ramos both made their debuts from the bench, while James Maddison pulled his hamstring in the second half to be sidelined for 2 weeks.
Before the next match news that Boubakary Soumaré would be joining Lazio on loan broke. The French midfielder didn't find the most chances last season and rumour has it that Leicester are freeing up spots in their squad for more signings.
An away trip to play West Ham was next. Haris Seferovic was caught offside in the 10th minute, denying him a goal. Aaron Cresswell send a free kick in for Issa Diop to head home in the 15th minute. Saïd Benrahma would play a killer through ball to Seferovic to put past Kasper Schmeichel in the 66th minute. Leicester were able to secure a consolation goal when James Justin found Harvey Barnes open in the box in the 77th minute, leaving the hard-working Hammers 2-1 victors.
There was more transfer news before the next match. For starters a £34M deal for American/Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Brenden Aaronson fell apart when the club and player couldn't agree to personal terms. Leicester manager Phillip Smith was said to be disappointed at the deal falling apart but stressed that the player's agent put far too high a demand on the table, but did state that he hoped to re-visit the deal in the future. Leaving the King Power Stadium would be ever reliable midfielder Wilfred Ndidi. The Nigerian would sign for Real Madrid in a £51M deal that couldn't be turned down.
Leicester hosted Wolves next. James Justin placed a ball onto the head of Jamie Vardy for an early goal in the 6th minute. Vardy would be caught offside and have a goal disallowed in the 55th minute. Young Portuguese midfielder Fábio Vieira would find striker Raúl Jiménez unmanned in the box for an equalizer in the 60th minute. It didn't last long however as Justin got a pass in to Harvey Barnes for the winning goal in the 71st minute. Justin would pick up Premier League Team of the Week honours for his two assists.
A £53M bid for Youri Tielemans from Arsenal would be declined by Leicester with neither the club nor the player interested in the move. Leicester would bring in a big name signing, however, in Bruno Guimarães from Lyon for a £38M sum. Guimarães, who operates in the centre of midfielder, will be expected to take the place of Wilfred Ndidi in the middle of the park, though the two are different sorts of players. Guimarães is coming off a great season with Lyon where he won the Ligue 1 Best Foreign Player Award. Guimarães would become Leicester's new record signing.
The Europa League group stage would be drawn with Leicester being drawn in Group G alongside Italians Atalanta, La Liga team Valencia, and the Dutch sc Heerenveen. Leicester will face stiff competition if they are to progress to the knockout stages.
An away trip to Brighton was the last match for Leicester in the opening month of the league. James Maddison returned from injury to play a decent ball for Jamie Vardy to run onto and place past the 'keeper in the 29th minute. Leicester had all attacks repelled for the rest of the match and would be robbed of a victory when new signing Guimarães had the ball stolen from him by Steven Bergwijn, who would go on a run and put the ball past Kasper Schmeichel to force the 1-1 draw.
Deadline day arrived and saw the shock exit of fullback Timothy Castagne to Atlético de Madrid. Castagne had been relegated to being a bench player thanks to the fantastic form last season of Ryan Bertrand and James Justin, so saw this as an opportunity for a fresh start.
Joining Leicester is 20 year-old Spanish winger Nico Williams, who joins for £40M (rising to £48M) from Athletic Bilbao, breaking Leicester's record transfer fee for the second time in just over a week. Willliams is a promising winger and Leicester have bet big that he is going to turn out to be something special. Fans were skeptical of their new signing but manager Phillip Smith has assured them that the club has done their due diligence and scouted him thoroughly before making a move.
The transfer window would slam shut with no further business conducted as the season looks to get under way properly. For September Leicester will play Swansea at home in the Carabao Cup, Norwich at home in the Premier League, sc Heerenveen at home and Atalanta away, both in the Europa League, Everton away in the Premier League and finally Valencia at home in the Europa League.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
OFF-SEASON 2022 ROUND UP:
Leicester would begin the off-season with a lot of doubt surrounding the future of their players. Çağlar Söyüncü had spent the season being heavily scouted by both Tottenham and Real Madrid, as was Wilfred Ndidi. Ricardo Pereira drew interest from Atlético de Madrid. Ryan Bertrand was chased by Italian team Fiorentina. Timothy Castagne was watched by Real Madrid. James Justin was looked at by Dortmund. Kelechi Iheanacho was wanted by West Ham. Lille were after Hamza Choudhury, while Liverpool were in pursuit of James Maddison.
Many expected a great overhaul from Leicester if all these moves were to take place, but thankfully, at least on the eve of the new season, very little has actually happened at the King Power Stadium. Dennis Praet would return from a loan spell at Torino only to join freshly relegated Southampton on loan in their bid to get back to the Premier League. Patson Daka returned from an unproductive loan spell with Bournemouth before joining Praet at Southampton, this time in a permanent deal for £19M (half upfront, half in installments). Filip Benkovic had a decent run while on loan at Barnsley but would see himself offered out for transfer, eventually joining Real Betis in Spain for £5.5M. Lille would chase Hamza Choudhury, starting off with a bid of £7.5M, before raising it to £10M, however both bids would be rejected. Luke Thomas, who was rarely used in the season just past, would join Praet and Daka at Southampton on loan.
The biggest news at the King Power Stadium came in the form of Liverpool's £40M bid for star attacking midfielder James Maddison. Maddison would plead desperately to join the Reds, however the bid was knocked back as being far too low, with Liverpool being asked to increase their bid to £65M, something that they refused.
Portuguese forward Gonçalo Ramos was the first new signing for Leicester in the off-season with the 21 year-old joining for £14M from Benfica. A possible long term replacement for Jamie Vardy, Ramos still requires some work before he is ready to spearhead Leicester's front line. It is expected that he will work closely with Vardy in order to improve his game.
Leicester's second signing for the new season was Belgian Aster Vranckx. Vranckx, who spent last season on loan from Wolfsburg at German 2. Bundesliga side Dynamo Dresden, was signed for £14M. A hard working midfielder, Vranckx has been signed do be Wilfred Ndidi's backup and potential successor down the line. Vranckx will look to do as Ramos will, buddy up with his tutor and learn his ways.
On the eve of the new season Leicester are yet to complete any more transfer moves outside of this, but with until the end of August to make any moves it is possible that they re-enter the market should the right player become available, or a sale be made and a gap need to be filled.
Leicester will open the season on the 6th of August hosting newly promoted Bournemouth at the King Power Stadium. From there they will travel to the capital to play West Ham. A home match against Wolves follows, which is followed by an away trip to Brighton.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
MAY 2022 ROUND UP:
The final month of the season began with Leicester taking a trip to the capital to play Arsenal it what was an unbelievable match. Arsenal failed to turn up and Leicester took full advantage. Ademola Lookman would play a one-two with Youri Tielemans, finishing with him finding the back of the net in the 5th minute. It took until the second half for more goals to come, this time with James Justin finding Jamie Vardy unmarked in the box for an easy tap in at the 60th minute mark. Harvey Barnes would send a cross in from the left flank for Vardy to head in in the 75th minute. Vardy completed his hat-trick in the 85th minute when Lookman would play a through ball for him to run onto for the 4th and final goal in the match, bringing the score to 4-0 Leicester. Vardy would be named in the Premier League Team of the Week for his troubles.
Leicester hosted Everton next in what was the last game played at the King Power Stadium this season. The first half saw very little in the way of attacking play with most balls being easily repelled by the teams' respective defenses. Jamie Vardy would steal the ball from Abdoulaye Doucouré and put it past the 'keeper in the 54th minute. James Justin would succumb to a foot injury in the 60th minute. Çağlar Söyüncü proved to be immense in defense for Leicester and would be named in the Premier League Team of the Week.
A trip to Birmingham to play Aston Villa was up next. After a first half which saw both teams have a decent amount of shots on goal, Ademola Lookman would break the deadlock with a goal after receiving a cross from Harvey Barnes. John McGinn would find Peter Olayinka wide open in the box for an easy tap-in past Kasper Schmeichel to even things up for the home team in the 88th minute, securing a draw at 1-1.
In the final Premier League game of the season Leicester would fall to a disappointing defeat to Manchester City. Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring in the 41st minute after placing a free kick in the top right corner of the net. İlkay Gündoğan would get the ball to January signing Ángel Correa, who would put it past Schmeichel in the 52nd minute. Nathan Ake would send a cross in from the left flank for Correa to volley home for his 2nd, Manchester City's 3rd and the final score of the match.
The curtain would close on the Premier League with Liverpool as champions, 10 points clear of their nearest rivals, Manchester United. Newcastle (despite spending almost £200M in January), Crystal Palace and Southampton would all be relegated to the Championship. Champions Fulham, Bournemouth and West Brom would secure promotion to the Premier League from the Championship. In the FA Cup Liverpool would defeat Wolves 2-0. Liverpool would complete their treble by defeating Chelsea 3-0 in the Carabao Cup final. In European actions, Manchester City would defeat Paris Saint Germain 2-1 to win the Champions League. Italian side Lazio would defeat Ajax 2-0 in the Europa League final.
Leicester would finish the season in a respectable 5th place. Before caretaker manager Phillip Smith was appointed in November, Leicester sat 20th with only 2 wins to their name so it was some turnaround. Leicester will turn their focus to recruitment in the off-season with a lot of their players drawing interest from clubs near and far. In addition to filling any holes that sales would bring, they would be wanting to look ahead to the future and find Jamie Vardy and perhaps Kasper Schmeichel's eventual replacements.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
APRIL 2022 ROUND UP:
Leicester would start the month of April off with an away game to the struggling Crystal Palace, who sit 19th and have gone 8 matches without a win. Things would start off well for the visiting Foxes with a Ryan Bertrand corner only cleared as far as Ademola Lookman just outside the box, who would hammer it home from long range in the 14th minute. The rest of the first half would be rather uneventful outside of a Jamie Vardy goal disallowed for offside just before the break. Odsonne Edouard would bring Palace even at 1-1 in the 75th minute with a cracking strike from just inside the box. Ryan Bertrand would send a pass forward to Lookman to put away in the 85th minute, before Boubakary Soumaré would find the winger in the 90th minute to complete his hat-trick to seal the 3-1 win.
Leicester didn't fare very well in their Europa League Quarter Final away leg match against German side RB Leipzig. Former Manchester City wingback Angeliño would find André Silva on a good run to score the German's first goal. Angeliño would be involved in the second as he would get the ball to Emil Forsberg who would round Kasper Schmeichel and put the ball in the back of the net. Lukas Klostermann would pick out new signing Osame Sahraoui for another goal in the 79th miunute. Kelechi Iheanacho would help peg one back for Leicester as he found Harvey Barnes to strike from a tight angle in the 82nd minute. Leipzig would further cement their victory when Marcel Halstenberg unleashed Yussuf Poulsen with a killer through ball just before the final whistle was blown to secure a 4-1 victory for Leipzig.
Before Leicester's next game they announced some transfer news via their website. Nampalys Mendy is set to join Napoli in the Italian Serie A at the end of the season for a fee of £10.5M. Many couldn't believe the Italian's willingness to part with that figure as Mendy had not even been registered for his team until January and since then had only made appearances as a substitute, not even getting on the pitch.
Wolves visited the King Power Stadium for Premier League action. Boubakary Soumaré found Ryan Bertrand on the wing early on and he went on to cross the ball into the box for an easy tap in by Marc Albrighton. Jamie Vardy doubled the lead in the 24th minute after running onto a through pass from James Maddison. Leicester would dominate the game stats-wise but both teams would fail to register for the rest of the game, resulting in a Leicester 2-0 victory.
The second leg of the Europa League Quarter Final took place at the King Power Stadium. Kelechi Iheanacho went down inside the box early on, allowing James Maddison to score a penalty. Dani Olmo equaled for Leipzig just 5 minutes later in the 10th minute with a picture perfect free kick that landed in the top right corner. Osame Sahraoui would find André Silva in the box for Leipzig's second goal just before halftime. Later, in what was a very even affair, James Maddison found Ademola Lookman with a through ball for him to run onto and send into the back of the net. The scoring dried up from there on and the match ended 2-2, with Leipzig winning 6-3 on aggregate, knocking Leicester out of the Europa League.
An away trip to Chelsea was on the cards next. The match would by and large disappoint fans as it was a very dull affair with both teams relying more on their defense than attack with just a handful of shots taken from either team. Wilfred Ndidi was able to get a ball to Jamie Vardy for him to hammer into the back of the net. VAR would be consulted as to whether he was offside but it was all deemed to be okay. The match didn't offer anything else in the way of scoring and Leicester beat the disappointing Chelsea, who sit 11th in the league, 1-0.
A home match against Leeds United would see out the month of April. Mateusz Klich would convert a penalty early on after Wilfred Ndidi pushed Patrick Bamford in the box. Klich would score a second in the 38th minute after Philip Billing would pass the ball off to him for him to goal from long range. Youri Tielemans got his side back in the game after finding live wire winger Ademola Lookman in the box in the 42nd minute. Jamie Vardy would play the ball back to James Maddison, who in turn would find Lookman for his second just before halftime. The second half would be hotly contested with both teams having their fair share of possession but no one would be able to find the goals and it would end as a 2-2 draw.
The last month of the season will see Leicester travel to play Arsenal, host Everton at home, and travel to play both Aston Villa and Manchester City. Leicester fans will be hoping that they will be able to come away with as many points as possible so as to remain in the Europe qualifying places, but with only a few months separating 5th to 11th, the spots are well and truly up for grabs.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
MARCH 2022 ROUND UP:
The month of March would begin with a FA Cup fifth round fixture away from home against Chelsea. Timo Warner would open up the scoring in the 16th minute, receiving the ball from Romelu Lukaku for an easy tap in. Marc Albrighton would find Jamie Vardy unmarked in the box in the 27th minute, resulting in the striker netting a beautiful goal. Things would be deadlocked from there on out with Leicester putting up a mighty fight against Chelsea. They would force things to go into extra time but would see any chance of a win slipping away after Werner converted a penalty from a Wesley Fofana foul.
Before their next match Leicester would be greeted with some unwelcome news. Defender Jannik Vestergaard would be ruled out for the majority of the rest of the season with a hip injury picked up in training.
Brighton visited the King Power Stadium for Premier League action next. Jamie Vardy couldn't believe it when he had a goal disallowed early by VAR for offside. Leicester would go on to record double the amounts of shots on goal as Brighton but just couldn't find the net and the match would end 0-0. New signing Bryan Okoh would make his Leicester debut off the bench to a warm reception from the crowd.
A trip to France was up next with the first leg of the second knockout round of the Europa League against Lyon to be played. Leicester would surprisingly dominate the home team, but it would be for very little reward. Things looked like ending 0-0 until substitute Ademola Lookman would find Marc Albrighton sneaking into the box in the 88th minute for a goal.
Premier League action against West Ham was next it started badly and never really got any better for the Hammers. Lukasz Fabianski would mishandle the ball in the 6th minute, putting it over his own line. Timothy Castagne would then switch play to the opposite flank with Marc Albrighton running onto the ball. He would go on to send a low cross in for Jamie Vardy to hammer home in the 17th minute. Ayoze Pérez would have a goal disallowed for offside in the 62nd minute. West Ham missed out on a consolation goal late when defender Kurt Zouma was ruled offside in the 91st minute of play. Leicester would secure the 2-0 win in James Maddison's 125th league appearance for the club.
Leicester would host Lyon in their return leg of the Europa League second knockout round. Things started fairly well for the home side with Timothy Castagne putting the ball in front of Jamie Vardy, who sent it into the top left corner of the net with ease. The first half would play out with no additional scores. Karl Toko Elambi would find Moussa Dembélé in the box for an easy goal in the 51st minute. Dembélé would double his account in the 63rd minute after receiving a well placed pass from Xherdan Shaqiri. Ademola Lookman would pass the ball to Jamie Vardy, who would chip 'keeper Anthony Lopes as he rushed him in the 89th minute to secure a 2-2 draw, and a 3-2 win on aggregate. Leicester would draw RB Leipzig in the next round.
The final match of the month would see Leicester travel to face Brentford. Mathias Jensen would send a corner onto the head of Ethan Pinnock in the 22nd minute giving Brentford the lead. Leicester would have numerous shots on goal until James Justin found himself sent off in the 41st minute for a dangerous tackle on Jensen. Things looked bad for Leicester until the 83rd minute when Kelechi Iheanacho would steal the ball from Christian Nørgaard and score to rescue a draw.
In transfer news, Leicester would say goodbye to forward Ayoze Pérez with the Spaniard joining UAE club Al-Ain for just £8M. It would mark a big loss on Pérez, who joined from Newcastle for £27M just a few years ago. Eldin Jakupovic, having been unused this season, would sign a pre-contract deal with St. Gallen in his native Switzerland.
April will see Leicester play Crystal Palace, Wolves, Chelsea and Leeds United in the Premier League, as well as home and away fixtures against RB Leipzig in the Europa League Quarter Finals. With 8 Premier League games left, Leicester will be looking to push themselves forward and into the European qualifying places.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
FEBRUARY 2022 ROUND UP:
Leicester's February would get underway with the Foxes welcoming Crystal Palace to the King Power Stadium in the fourth round of the FA Cup. Will Hughes would find Palace defender Joachim Andersen in the 14th with the Dane heading the ball past Kasper Schmeichel. It wouldn't take long for Leicester to strike back with Ademola Lookman volleying home a cross from James Justin in the 20th minute. Ayoze Pérez would find the ever reliable Jamie Vardy in the 25th minute, with the 35 year-old thundering in a shot to the top right corner. James Justin would send a ball in for Vardy to head home in the 35th minute to round out a solid half of football for Leicester. The second half was much quieter with the only real thing of note being Ryan Bertrand passing the ball to Ayoze Pérez, who would score from long range in the 58th minute, securing the 4-1 victory.
Leicester would travel to play Spurs in the Premier League next. Things looked great for the visitors early on with Jamie Vardy scoring in the 7th minute, only to be ruled offside after VAR was consulted. A back-and-forth affair would play out from then off with both sides affording decent opportunities to take the lead. It was Tottenham, however, who would run out victors, with Bryan Gil scoring after Kasper Schmeichel was unable to hold a save from a Son Heung-Min shot. Spurs would snap Leicester's 6 game undefeated streak.
A home game against league leaders Liverpool would be up next. Marc Albrighton couldn't believe his luck when Jamie Vardy found him in the box wide open, allowing him an easy score. Albrighton would go from hero to zero, however, when he lost the ball to Naby Keita, who would send a thunderous strike past Kasper Schmeichel just before half-time. The rest of the match played out as a very even affair with both teams impressing, however neither could find the winning goal and this would end 1-1.
The Foxes would travel to Old Trafford for their final match of the month. Second placed Manchester United dominated the early stages of the game and would've been ahead 1-0 if Marcus Rashford hadn't of strayed offside. In the second half Leicester came out and looked a completely different team to the first half, refusing to roll over and let United win. Things would play out to a draw with neither side able to score a goal.
March will see Leicester visit Chelsea for the FA Cup fifth round. They will have matches against Brighton, West Ham and Brentford in the Premier League, as well as home and away fixtures against Lyon in the Europa League.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
JANUARY 2022 ROUND UP:
Leicester would start January with a home match with Newcastle as the opposition. Ryan Bertrand would open the scoring in the 39th minute, with the unlikely scorer sending a free kick into the top right corner of the net. In the second half Ademola Lookman would find Youri Tielemans just outside the box, allowing the midfielder to score from long range in the 63rd minute. Jamie Vardy would round out the 3-0 win when he somehow found himself unmarked in the box, affording him the opportunity to easily head home a Lookman cross.
With the transfer window open Leicester made two moves that frankly made a lot of sense. The rarely used Filip Benkovic would join Barnsley on loan. Exciting winger Ademola Lookman would make his stint in Leicester permanent, signing from RB Leipzig for just £10M, half of what his agreed transfer fee was.
A FA Cup match was up next against Middlesbrough and it was by and large a training drill for Leicester, who walked away 4-0 winners. James Justin would send a cross in to be headed home by Jamie Vardy in the 2nd minute. Harvey Barnes would send a low cross in just a couple minutes later for Marc Albrighton to tap in. Albrighton would get his second in the 53rd minute, heading home a Tielemans ball. Vardy would go down in the box just before injury time expired which would allow Albrighton to score a hat-trick as the winger took the penalty.
Some more transfer news would come out of the King Power Stadium next. Daniel Amartey, whose contract is due to expire at the end of the season, would sign a pre-contract deal with Lyon. Despite his use as a fullback and defensive midfielder Amartey was allowed to walk with the club believing there will be better options available in the off season. Leicester would then splash a little bit of cash on American defender Bryan Okoh, who would join from Red Bull Salzburg for £6.5M, rising to £7.5M with fees after appearances. Okoh had only joined Salzburg in the off season and had hardly been used but Leicester's scouts apparently rated him very highly. One for the future at just 18 years-old, look for Okoh to potentially be loaned out in the future.
Leicester would host Southampton next with the Saints getting off to a flying start with James Ward-Prowse placing a corner on the head of Lyanco for the lead in just the 3rd minute. Just before half-time James Justin would make his way up the right wing before crossing the ball into the box for Ademola Lookman to head home. Ryan Bertrand would send a ball in from a corner onto Jannik Vestergaard's head in the 67th minute to secure the victory for Leicester.
An away game at Burnley would be up next in what was goalkeeper-captain Kasper Schmeichel's 400th league appearance for Leicester. Jamie Vardy would steal the ball off Kevin Long before sprinting forwards and putting the ball in the back of the net in the 8th minute. Things would remain stagnant for a while until James Maddison found Ademola Lookman in space on the wing, allowing the winger to cross the ball in for Vardy to volley home in the 75th minute to secure the 2-0 win. Vardy's brace would see him named in the Premier League Team of the Week.
Things would get off to a cracking start for Leicester against Watford with Youri Tielemans scoring from a free kick just outside the box in the 3rd minute. A couple minutes later Marc Albrighton would send a ball over the top of everyone with Jamie Vardy running onto it and putting it in the back of the net. Tielemans would then find Albrighton in the 28th minute, who would put the ball past the 'keeper from a tight angle. James Justin would send a low cross in for Jamie Vardy to tap in in the 37th minute. Tielemans would then pass the ball back out of the box to Albrighton who would hammer it home from distance in the 44th minute. The scores would remain unchanged from there on out with Leicester just playing out the clock. Vardy, Tielemans and Albrighton would all find themselves named in the Premier League Team of the Week, with Vardy also named in the Team of the Month.
Newcastle attempted to put their newly found wealth to use, bidding in excess of £40M for fullback James Justin. Justin's manager made it clear he was uninterested in a move, however, and the deal would fall apart before it really began. Patson Daka did not find a new permanent home as he had wanted, but instead forced a move on loan to Bournemouth in the Championship. Leicester will be hoping the striker puts on a good display for the Cherries, raising interest in teams looking to sign a striker.
Looking ahead to February, and Leicester will open the month by hosting Crystal Palace for the FA Cup Fourth Road. Three Premier League games follow, with an away trip against Tottenham, home against Liverpool and away to Manchester United on the cards. Leicester would finish the month of January in 8th place, just 1 point away from European qualification. They will be hoping that their run of form continues and they can finish the season strongly.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
DECEMBER 2021 ROUND UP:
Leicester would start the month of December off with a disappointing 2-0 loss to Chelsea at home. Reece James would send a ball forward for Mason Mount to put past Kasper Schmeichel in the 13th minute. Jamie Vardy would have an equalizer denied after VAR would rule him offside in the 23rd minute. The industrious N'Golo Kante would send the ball forward to Kai Havertz who would place it just right for Romelu Lukaku to send into the back of the net in the 35th minute. After that the match was largely a stalemate with neither side being particularly successful on the attack.
Timothy Castagne would suffer a fractured toe in a training session before Leicester's next match, with the fullback expected to be out for 2-3 weeks.
A trip to Elland Road would be up next with Leeds welcoming Leicester. The Foxes would get off to a great start with Wesley Fofana intercepting a Luke Ayling pass, sending it forward to James Maddison who then crossed the ball onto Jamie Vardy's head for the first goal of the match in just the 3rd minute. Ademola Lookman would come off the bench in the second half and play a nice through ball for Vardy to get on the end of to make it 2-0. The clean sheet would be lost, however, when Wesley Fofana would slide in front of Tyler Roberts to try and knock the ball out of play, but instead it would find it's way into the back of his own net. Late in the game Daniel Amartey would be sent off for a rough tackle on Roberts, an act that would earn him a 3 match ban.
Another training injury would occur before the Foxes could next take to the park, this time with live wire Ademola Lookman picking up a concussion in training and ruling himself out for 2-3 weeks.
The Europa League would call next and Leicester would put out a weakened team at the King Power Stadium to face FC Midtjylland, having already qualified for the knockout rounds. Despite the weakened team, Leicester would go on to post a 2-0 victory with Kelechi Iheanacho scoring in the 12th minute after following up from a penalty that was saved. Late in the match Luke Thomas would send a high cross in to meet the head of Patson Daka. This victory would see Leicester finish the group stages 1st in their group with 5 wins, 1 draw and 16 points. Real Sociedad would be the other team to qualify.
A home Premier League match against Arsenal would be next. Gabriel would put the Gunners up 1-0 only to be ruled offside by VAR in the 9th minute. After that there were no more goals scored by either team despite a high number of shots by both. In the end a 0-0 was all that was on offer.
Another training mishap and this time it was Boubakary Soumaré who suffered a twisted ankle and would be ruled up for sometime up to a month.
A trip to face Everton was next on the cards. Patson Daka would head down a Marc Albrighton cross to Harvey Barnes' feet, allowing the winger to put the Foxes up in the 5th minute. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall would send in a free kick that Jannik Vestergaard would head home in the 25th minute. Everton started their comeback in the 26th minute with Seamus Coleman finding Demarai Gray in the box. Abdoulaye Doucouré would send the ball forward for Gray to put his second home just 60 seconds later. Finally Richarlison would feed the ball to Gray outside the box, who sent in a thunderous shot from long range. Leicester would go down 3-2 to Everton.
The King Power Stadium would welcome Manchester City next with a match that was much closer than many would have expected. City were able to go up 1-0 in the 52nd minute after Raheem Sterling was tripped in the box by Jonny Evans and Kevin De Bruyne put the penalty away. The scores would remain unchanged for the rest of the match despite some nice efforts from both teams.
Timothy Castagne would be cursing his luck as the Belgian would twist his ankle in his first training session back after suffering a fractured toe earlier in the month. He would be ruled out for a further 3-4 weeks.
Leicester played at home against Aston Villa next. Jamie Vardy would pass the ball to Wesley Fofana, affording the defender a rare goal in the 16th minute. Leon Bailey would send in a ball in for Bertrand Traoré to volley home in the 40th minute. Ryan Bertrand would play a through ball that Ademola Lookman would successfully get on the end of just before half-time. In the 75th minute Kelechi Iheanacho would have a shot blocked, which would rebound off the defender for Lookman to strike and secure his brace. Leicester would hold out from there on for the 3-1 victory with Wesley Fofana finding himself in the Premier League Team of the Week.
An away trip to Norwich would finish off the month with Ryan Bertrand putting the ball in the box for Jamie Vardy to volley home in the 21st minute. Just before halftime Norwich's Christos Tzolis would place the ball on the head of Josh Sargent for an equalizer. Despite being the dominant team Leicester would not be able to find a winning goal.
Finishing the month in the same spot as last month would be seen as somewhat of a win for Leicester as they did have some tricky fixtures to navigate. What was pleasing, however, was the fact that they seemed to win most of the games they were expected to, compared to early on in the season when they struggled. The first month of the New Year will see them start off against Newcastle in the Premier League, before facing Middlesbrough in the FA Cup. Three more Premier League games will follow, with Southampton at home, an away trip to Burnley and a home fixture against Watford scheduled. Leicester will be hopeful to take as many points from these matches as possible.
Another twist to the month of January is the transfer window being open again. While Leicester are not expected to be big spenders, they may just be in the position of being forced to sell. Jannik Vestergaard, Patson Daka and James Justin are all making noise about their playing time. While most of their concern comes from the time served under Brendan Rodgers, they are not very optimistic about their chances of getting game time under the new regime. Daniel Amartey, Filip Benkovic and the unregistered Nampalys Mendy are all listed for transfer already, and may be used as a way to raise funds to secure a permanent transfer for Ademola Lookman - who has a £20m optional transfer fee in place which is likely to be picked up after he has been impressive so far.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB:
NOVEMBER 2021 ROUND UP:
Leicester would travel for interim manager Phillip Smith's first game in charge, with the Foxes headed to the London Stadium to take on West Ham. Things would start well for the inexperience manager with Leicester icon Jamie Vardy getting on the end of a through ball from James Maddison to score the first goal in the 19th minute. In a fairly even affair, West Ham would level the scores in the 49th minute after Jonny Evans gave away a penalty which Tomáš Souček would easily convert. Things looked as though they would end in a draw until the energetic winger Ademola Lookman came on and crossed the ball into the box for James Maddison to volley home giving Leicester the 2-1 victory.
Before Leicester's next match there was an international break that would see fullback Ricardo Pereira break his ankle while playing for Portugal against Luxembourg. With Pereira out for 3-4 months Leicester shouldn't worry too much as they have some depth at the fullback position.
Next Leicester delighted their gaffer with a 4-0 win at home against Crystal Palace. A long range shot from Youri Tielemans would rebound off the upright just the right way for Harvey Barnes to pick up the crumbs and strike in the 7th minute. Just two minutes later Jamie Vardy would show up to work with a penalty. Tielemans would replay his first attempt at goal with another rebound falling to Jamie Vardy to pounce on as the clock ran out in the first half. A fairly pedestrian second half would see nothing of note until Harvey Barnes would center the ball to Youri Tielemans, who would play it forward for Jamie Vardy to tap home and secure a hat-trick.
Leicester would travel to Spain next to face Real Sociedad in the Europa League. The first half would have little impact on the final result with nothing of note occuring. Kelechi Iheanacho would head down a cross right to Ademola Lookman who would coolly place it in the back of the net in the 62nd minute. Sociedad would bring things level after Ander Barrenetxea converted a penalty. Daniel Amartey would get the ball to Iheanacho who would score an easy goal to secure the 2-1 victory for the Foxes. Disappointingly, Lookman would get sent off in injury time after receiving a second yellow card.
An away trip to Wolves would end the month with it being a very memorable affair. James Maddison would cross the ball from the ring wing for Jamie Vardy to head in in the 18th minute. James Justin would recreate the first goal almost exactly with Vardy heading in his second in the 30th minute. Pedro Neto would send the ball in for Raúl Jiménez to header home in the 44th minute. It would take only 3 minutes for Leicester to respond with another goal, this time James Justin sending the ball in for Harvey Barnes to volley home just before the half-time break. Vardy would convert a penalty in the 53rd minute for his hat-trick. Joao Moutinho would send a corner in to be headed home by Willy Boly to beg one back in the 59th minute. James Justin was in the mix again as he sent a ball in for Jamie Vardy to hammer home for his fourth in the 69th minute. This performance would see Justin and Vardy named in the Premier League Team of the Week.
The 100% winning record to start Smith's career at Leicester would see them rise to 12th on the table. Elsewhere Antonio Conte would be sacked by 10th placed Spurs, Ralph Hasenhüttl would be sacked by 18th placed Southampton, and finally Bruno Lage would lose his job at 19th placed Wolves. December holds a tough run for Leicester with games against Chelsea, Leeds, FC Midtjylland, Arsenal, Everton, Man City, Aston Villa and Norwich in store. Smith's team will surely drop points sooner than later, but Leicester fans will be hoping that when they inevitably do the team can bounce back positively.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
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LEICESTER PART WAYS WITH RODGERS
6/11/2021Brendan Rodgers' time at Leicester City is up.
Rodgers exits the King Power Stadium with Leicester languishing in 20th place on the Premier League table. The Foxes have only won two games this season, with no draws and eight defeats see them with a paltry 6 points. Rodgers thanked the players, staff and fans in his exit press conference, having been with Leicester since February 2019.
There is some confusion over who will take the top job at the Foxes with little known reserves coach Phillip Smith being installed for Leicester's clash with West Ham on the 7th. Sources inside the Leicester camp say that there is no surprise in Rodgers being let go, with someone obviously needing to fall on their sword and take the blame for the start to the season. Smith was introduced in the press conference and said that at this stage all he is hoping for is three points against the Hammers, saying that the club must take things one match at a time.
In contrast to their Premier League woes the Foxes are doing well in the Europa League, currently sitting atop their group ahead of Real Sociedad, FC Midtjylland and Bayer Leverkusen on 10 points.
There is great interest in how Leicester will fare now that they've cut Rodgers, with many intrigued onlookers looking forward to the West Ham match to better gauge their new, albeit temporary coach.
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LEICESTER CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
2021/2022 SQUAD:GOALKEEPERS:
[L-R] 1. Kasper Schmeichel [CAPTAIN], 12. Danny Ward, 35. Eldin JakupovicDEFENDERS:
[L-R] 2. James Justin 3. Wesley Fofana, 4. Çağlar Söyüncü
[L-R] 5. Ryan Bertrand 6. Jonny Evans [VICE-CAPTAIN] 18. Daniel Amartey
[L-R] 21. Ricardo Pereira 23. Jannik Vestergaard 27. Timothy Castagne
[L-R] 33. Luke Thomas 34. Filip BenkovicMIDFIELDERS:
[L-R] 7. Harvey Barnes 8. Youri Tielemans 10. James Maddison
[L-R] 11. Marc Albrighton 20. Hamza Choudhury 22. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
[L-R] 24. Nampalys Mendy [UNREGISTERED] 25. Wilfred Ndidi 42. Boubakary SoumaréFORWARDS:
[L-R] 9. Jamie Vardy 14. Kelechi Iheanacho 17. Ayoze Pérez
[L-R] 29. Patson Daka 37. Ademola LookmanPLAYERS OUT ON LOAN:
Daniel Iversen, Sam Hughes, Dennis Praet0 -
What is the lowest amount of money anyone has accepted for Harry Kane, or do you turn offers down and make him unhappy?
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FM24: Brighton and Hove Albion - Welcome to Europe
in Good Player & Team Guide
Posted
He was only averaging 6.67 a game and wasn't going to get in my team ahead of Enciso or the newly bought Savio so he had to go. I didn't get as much as I wanted for him but with his performances I was happy to get what I did for him to be honest.