Dewsbury-Hall nil, pacy buy, Vardy foil – Leicester City’s three big transfer jobs this summer

Now that Leicester City have a manager to oversee their return to the Premier League, the main task is to build a team to lead.

Steve Cooper said in his opening interview as City boss that there was no greater gap between two divisions in England than between the Championship and the Premier League, a clear indication that he felt his new team needed strengthening.

But of all the deals City have to make this summer, which are the most difficult and potentially the most expensive? I took a look.

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Find a replacement for Dewsbury-Hall

Now a Chelsea player, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scores a goal for City. It will have to be replaced. Enzo Maresca was adamant about this when discussing the midfielder’s future in May, and Cooper will no doubt feel the same way.

How Dewsbury-Hall’s 26 goals and assists would translate to the Premier League is unknown. His most prolific top-flight campaign saw him contribute just four goals. But thanks to Maresca’s training, Dewsbury-Hall’s tactical and technical improvements and increased confidence in attacking areas, reaching double figures for goals and assists would not have been too much of a ask.

Now he has said goodbye, City need to find a player who can put up such numbers from midfield, as well as providing the energy, box-to-box running and link-up with the attacking players that Dewsbury-Hall gave to the team. . The 25-year-old is worth £30m, so any decent replacement will cost a fair amount too.

Add some pace to the back line

Although he wasn’t married to a back three, Cooper played the most often during his time at Forest and is likely to try it out at City. But to make it work, they probably need another addition.

City have plenty of centre-backs to choose from, with Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, Conor Coady, Ben Nelson and Harry Souttar competing for playing time, but none of them have much pace. Maresca said quite regularly that his defenders were slow and he knew this was the glaring weakness of his team.

Under Maresca, James Justin was there to provide some speed at the back, but in Cooper’s system, he’s more likely to play as a full-back, and that’s how he may have caught the field. City are likely to be deeper in the Premier League as they won’t have as much possession, but the strikers they face will also be quicker and a peace option at the back would be a big help.

The problem is that speedy defenders are hard to come by. Finding a centre-back who has strength, organizational and positional qualities, decent ball skills and then pace on top of that is a tall order. Essentially, City are looking for a new Wesley Fofana.

Find a foil for Vardy

Cooper is one of the few managers around who still operates with two up front quite regularly. In his 3-4-3 system, the front trio can be configured in a number of ways, such as with two wide men supporting a striker or two attacking midfielders behind the leader, but also with a single number 10 behind a blow. pairing.

City now have three strikers on their books in Jamie Vardy, Patson Daka and Tom Cannon, but all three are quite similar. For a front two to work, it feels like City would need something different.

At Forest, Cooper sometimes placed an attacking midfielder such as Morgan Gibbs-White up front or a natural playmaker such as Anthony Elanga alongside an impeccable forward such as Taiwu Awoniyi. This could be an option for City and a way to bring in the likes of Stephy Mavididi and Abdul Fatawu.

But as long as there is balance in the rest of the team, a pair of strikes can be lethal when two strikers have a deep understanding of each other’s game while also offering different qualities. City saw this under Brendan Rodgers when they played Kelechi Iheanacho with Vardy. Maybe now Cooper has been named, it’s a shame the Nigerian has been released.

If City want to look for a new striker with Vardy or Daka, it will cost a lot. Signing a Premier League-quality striker would usually be the most expensive deal a club will make in a given summer and could be a concern when money is tight and there are other positions that need strengthening.

What do you think is the most important deal City will make this summer? Let us know in the comments section below.