Who will survive at Leicester City?

Article by Leicester Correspondent Jonathan Smith

The coming summer will be an interesting one for Leicester City. Eleven senior players will be out of contract and manager Nigel Pearson’s deal will also be coming to an end. Whether or not new terms are offered will depend heavily on which division the club finds itself in at the end of the season.

When looking through the list of players who are set to become free agents, it makes me wonder how much Leicester are spending on wages currently. Five of the out of contract players joined the club during Sven-Goran Eriksson’s time as manager. It would be fair to assume that each of these Sven signings are earning a five figure sum per week so, if you make a low estimation that they’re all earning £10,000 weekly, the club’s owners are probably spending over £2.5million a year on these five players alone. With Financial Fair Play restrictions on the horizon, the club can’t afford to carry on splashing the cash so extravagantly from now on.

Neil Danns is one player that falls into the bracket of ‘Sven signing whose time is running out’. He found himself out on loan for the majority of last season and this season has been no different for the former Crystal Palace man. It’s very unlikely that he’ll be retained as City have four other central midfielders who will all still be under contract after the summer and all of them are likely to be on less money too. Bolton, where Danns is currently plying his trade, are saying that they’d like to keep him on a longer term basis but they’d be foolish to pay a fee for him when they know he only has a few months left at Leicester. City will probably be happy if Bolton are willing to pay a percentage of his wage from now until the end of the season.

Sean St Ledger is another who has found himself in and out of the team under Pearson but it has become evident this season that he is way down the defensive pecking order. There has been talk of him being sent out on loan like at the end of last season when he joined Millwall to regain match fitness. It’s hard to see a future for the Irish international at the club and it’s likely that his wages will be used elsewhere once his deal runs out.

Schmeichel, Konchesky and Nugent have all played key roles for Nigel Pearson since he returned to the club. I’m sure the manager will be keen to keep all three, Nugent and Schmeichel in particular as they’ve both got plenty of years left in the game, but the chances of being able to offer them contracts as good as they’re already on will be virtually impossible if Premiership status isn’t gained this season.

Other notable players whose deals come to an end in the summer include captain Wes Morgan, long serving Lloyd Dyer and Polish international centre back Marcin Wasilewski. Morgan has been a rock for City and Pearson will undoubtedly want to keep him for the long term. His wages won’t be small but it will be money well spent if it means Leicester get to keep their leader. Lloyd Dyer was one of Pearson’s first signings during his first spell as manager back in 2008. His quality is sometimes questioned but his effort never has been and that’s a characteristic that can be undervalued at times. He has become a regular this season but has spent time in and out of the team since the club were promoted to the Championship. It’s hard to imagine Pearson letting him go as he rates him highly and Dyer seems to love the club too, which always helps. Wasilewski is a fairly new signing but has come into the starting line-up following injury to Ritchie De laet. With his previous experience of Champions League football I’m sure that he won’t want to hang around in the Championship for long so a new deal could depend on which division Leicester finds itself in.

All of these decisions will probably hinge on whether Pearson himself is offered a new deal. It’s likely that should the club fail in their bid for promotion that Pearson will find himself out of a job which would be very harsh considering what he’s done both on and off the pitch since returning. The club’s Thai owners may decide that he’s still the best man for the job even if their promotion dream isn’t realised this season but only time will tell.

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