Leicester City’s relegation from the Premier League is the topic of discussion for Ivan Gromikov and Artem Frankov in an exclusive interview with FanDay.net. The team, worth €450.9m according to Transfermarkt, failed to invest in new players, leading to a lack of depth and motivation among its key players. Although Leicester’s squad is one of the most valuable in the league, it was not enough to ensure their survival. The experts talk about the reasons for Leicester’s relegation, their chances of returning to the elite level, and the future of Shakhtar winger Tete, who played on loan for the Foxes at the end of the current season.
Ivan Gromikov and Artem Frankov, in an exclusive interview for FanDay.net, talk about Leicester’s move from English football’s elite to the Championship and share their thoughts on Shakhtar winger Teta.
The story of Leicester, which shocked the football world in 2015/16 when Claudio Ranieri won the Premier League, has come to an end.
The reality of modern English football is such that it turns out that money is not the main thing and Leicester’s squad, which is worth 450.9 million euros according to Transfermarkt, is not a guarantee against relegation.
Why are The Foxes out of the Premier League? What is the main problem of the “Cinderella” of English football? What are Leicester’s chances of a swift return to the elite? Is it possible that Brugge and Ukrainian national team striker Roman Yaremchuk will appear in Dean Smith’s team? What does the future hold for Shakhtar winger Tete, who played on loan for the Premier League’s 18th team at the end of the current season?
With these and other questions, journalists FanDay.net Yevgeny Chepur spoke to a famous local football journalist:
- Ivan Gromikov – Setanta Sports Commentator and English football expert.
- Artem Frankov – long-term editor-in-chief of “Football” magazine.
“Maddison and Barnes create the illusion that Leicester are capable of playing at this level”
– Leicester – the team with the ninth most valuable composition in the Premier League, has been relegated. Why does it happen?
GROMIKOV: Globally speaking, Leicester have not been able to rebuild in time, very unsuccessful in investing money in players when new faces are needed.
Speaking directly about the season, the team realized late that they are struggling to survive and should play accordingly. But the flashy football of the individual players, Maddison and Barnes, creates the illusion that Leicester itself is still capable of playing at a high level and does not need discipline in defence.
Ivan Gromikov. Photo: Facebook
FRANKOV: The fact is that this cost is still nominal. In fact, the team under the heir Srivaddhanaprabha Jr. is moving in this direction. Well, what do you want if the team doesn’t get stronger before the season? Not at all.
Leicester are the only team in the Premier League not to make any transfers this summer. At the same time, he had problems with the motivation of key players in Maddison and Tielemans.
With Tielemans for a long time there was a fight in the contract, in the end, there were rumors that he would not stay. So, to be honest, according to Lester, according to his actions last summer, it is clear that the team will be relegated, and only a miracle will save it.
“Such a coach is able to extract the maximum speech from an armored car”
– Should the team change coach Dean Smith personally? Perhaps this is not a specialist at Premier League level?
GROMIKOV: Dean Smith was not the first reason Leicester were relegated, he came into the team very late.
FRANKOV: In general, the “nonsense of fools” is to change Brendan Rodgers and find him one of the most traditional English coaches who, well, is able to achieve such goals the most – to reject the speech from the armored car. Dean Smith, as far as I understand, cannot deliver some sensible football at Premier League level, which he has proved.
In itself, this decision is incomprehensible, and again, the team is not strengthened, it is very simple in composition and with such an attack. Therefore, the leadership’s actions are totally inadequate. I don’t understand why the son doesn’t respect his father’s memory so much that it actually ruins his life’s work and love of football.
Artem Frankov. Photo: Google
“It’s time for Vardy to be written off”
– Can Leicester return to the elite level of English football?
GROMIKOV: Quite possible. There will be conditions in the first season for this, but it all depends on who will be the manager and how Leicester will rebuild their squad.
FRANKOV: Depends on what we see in the summer. You see, it’s time for Vardy to dispose of. He is old, just old. For the rest of the squad, it is necessary to solve problems in attack, some kind of problem of scoring goals.
In principle, it can, if there is adequate management. The problem is not the head coach’s personality, the problem is the owner’s personality.
“Schmeichel left, but Lester didn’t solve the problem”
– What kind of transfers are expected from the team? Are there big sales?
GROMIKOVA: That’s good for Leicester. Selling Maddison and Barnes is logical and easy, but the bigger challenge is selling a bunch of mediocre players with a decent payroll. Leicester cannot afford the situation that happened at Stoke after his removal. He needs motivated players to play at this level.
FRANKOV: Maddison and Tielemans will leave – this is understandable. These people are standing at the exit, and I think so [как минимум] Maddison will not play in the Championship. This is still a national team level player, so he will find a club without any problems. And the rest? They then lost Kasper Schmeichel in the summer when he left for Nice, and didn’t begin to solve the goalkeeping problem at all. Another “nonsense fool”.
Tete. Photo: Leicester
“Yaremchuk in Leicester? I don’t think that would be a sufficient solution.”
– Daka and Iheanacho may not want to play in the Tournament. Is there a possibility that they can be replaced by Yaremchuk, who, because of his body, is suitable for English football?
GROMIKOVA: I don’t think that would be an adequate solution. To get out of the Championship, Leicester prefer to bet on strikers who have experience at this level.
FRANKOV: Yaremchuk has no experience in English football and is unknown in English football, especially in a team like Leicester. Moreover, Roma had a very unsuccessful season behind him, or even two (frankly, only the second season was worse). I don’t know how selection works there, how Yaremchuk’s agent works in this matter.
The question here is that the team that flies to the Championship has a “golden parachute” in the first place. Generally, if the owner doesn’t take them out of the club, they are there for reinforcements at Championship level, for sure. I wish Lester the best.
Roman Yaremchuk. Photo: Bruges
“Perhaps we think too highly of Tete because he plays in the Premier League”
– Tete in Ligue 1 for Lyon was brilliant and scored 6 goals in 17 games, but at Leicester only one goal in 17 games. The Brazilian passed, the championship level so high or a low quality partner?
GROMIKOV: Tete started brilliantly, was the star of the match against Aston Villa when Leicester (at times this season) shone in attack. But when the team returned to normal conditions, Tete did not have the experience or quality to prove himself in such an environment. It is not a matter of level but of certain circumstances.
FRANKOV: He, if you remember, made his debut very brilliantly. In my opinion, they beat Aston Villa on the road 4:2. He was very good in that match. And that was it, and gone. Here, not the football, not the style.
I think that after all, there are more factors of partners and inappropriate styles. Ordinary players who performed brilliantly in the French championship, they were undefeated. Although there are different examples. So I think all those factors are there a little bit. Maybe we are overstating Tete on the grounds that he played in the Ukrainian championship.
- Read also: The final standings of the Premier League season 2022/23: who qualified for the European Cup, who was eliminated, the place taken by the Ukrainian team
“Tete to Shakhtar? You have to be a Panama striker who has spent his whole life in Israel.”
Leicester are out. Will Tete return to Shakhtar, or is it possible the Foxes will extend the lease?
GROMIKOV: Tete has the wrong profile for Leicester to take with him to the Championship. He also doesn’t show himself in any way in the team, so it will be very strange.
FRANKOV: I think that whether the “fox” continues the lease or not, Tete will not return to Shakhtar. I have such a feeling. Sorry, this is a single player who is currently coming to the Premier League. You have to be a Panama striker who spent his whole life in Israel to agree to go to the Ukrainian tournament (hard allusion to Guerrero from Dawn of Vadimich, ‒ approx. Fan Day). And only to ordinary trainers who know him very well. So I doubt that any Shakhtar legionnaire will suddenly want to go to the Premier League and play here. And the problem is not only in the war, the problem is also in the championship level.
Tete. Photo: FC Shakhtar
“What’s a miner to do with Tete? We need to make the most money.”
– What should miners do with Tete? Sell, loan back or try to negotiate for the winger to stay in the Premier League?
GROMIKOV: Definitely not a last resort.
FRANKOV: Of course, we must try to extract money from this to the maximum. Even in this situation, I offer my condolences to Shakhtar, because this is really a kind of nonsense – that the player has the opportunity, using the permission of FIFA, to leave the club, which is already in a not very happy situation. This should not be.
