Leicester City Football Club: Three new signings and a jersey release

With England continuing their run of trophy-winning defeats without a Leicester City player in the starting line-up, we now turn our attention back to club football. The Foxes are busy. None of this “leaving it late” nonsense like we saw a few seasons ago.

If I’m being completely honest, I’m a little disappointed that it all happened so quickly. My favorite part of this job, aside from the lavish pay and extravagant parties, is making a shopping list. This year I didn’t even get the chance to go through every European league with a fine-tooth comb, weigh up the club’s needs and the viability of signing a particular player, and then, as always, choose Robert Skov. Let’s look at what City are up to.

Photo by Cathrin Mueller/Getty Images

Defender Caleb Okoli moves from Atalanta

Okoli, a 22-year-old Italy Under-21 international, joined the Foxes after spending last season on loan at Frosinone. At 6ft 3in, he’s a tall lad and extremely confident on the ball, which would have helped last year. He played in 34 Serie A games last season, starting 32 of them, so he has plenty of top-flight experience for a player his age.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

He is an exciting talent but he leaves City with a surplus of centre-backs. Alongside Okoli we have Jannik Vestergaard, Wout Faes, Conor Coady, Harry Souttar and Ben Nelson. Surely one of them will soon be at another club but which one is anyone’s guess.

Fulham’s Bobby De Cordova-Reid joins the Foxes

Jamaican international De Cordova-Reid joined the Foxes on a free transfer after five years at Craven Cottage. The 31-year-old brings depth and experience to a position where Leicester have plenty of talent and potential. He started around half of Fulham’s games last season and it would be no surprise if he did the same at City.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

This transfer was met with a big “meh” from most Foxes fans, but that’s the way it is: a team made up entirely of young, exciting players with endless potential is all but certain to be relegated. A team needs a balance of youth and experience to survive. I understand the lack of enthusiasm, but I at least acknowledge that this was a quality signing that filled a real need.

City unveils new jersey and new jersey sponsor

The shirt is… okay?

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

It’s a blue V-neck shirt with Adidas stripes. I miss collars. Not those fake collars you see these days, where they just have another fabric sewn onto the neck. I mean correct Collars that can be opened.

The sponsor, BC Game, is a crypto casino. Not only will we have a Pac-Man on our shirt, but we will also have the Bitcoin logo. In the words of a certain JR “Bob” Dobbs, “They may be pink, but their money is green.” If they fund a transfer or two? Oh well.

Wilfred Ndidi makes a complete 360-degree turn and re-signs with City

You’ve probably guessed it already as I’ve included a couple of pictures of Wilf, but it’s great news and worth repeating. Our midfield destroyer/attacking eight is back in the team, which means one less thing for Martyn Glover and Steve Cooper to worry about.

Photo by Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images

It will be interesting to see how he is used and how he adapts to Cooper’s plans for this season. Of all the players on the roster, Ndidi has probably taken Maresca’s lessons the best, at least everyone else except Harry Winks. Will Cooper keep him as a forward or use him deep with Winks in a double pivot (since when do we call that a “double pivot”? I don’t like it. It sounds too much like basketball)?

City announces full preseason schedule

Hm…there’s no need to go into it much further, is there? Here are the dates:

20 July – Villarreal (training session behind closed doors)

23 July – Shrewsbury Town

26 July – Palermo

3 August – FC Augsburg

August 10 – RC Lens

All games are away, except for the game against Palermo, which will be played at Cheltenham, for… reasons? For those of you keeping count, there are only 25 days until the opening game against Spurs.