Premier League: Can Leicester City, the unlikeliest of defending champions, repeat their title heroics?

It is hard to believe that only three months have passed since Leicester City completed one of sport’s greatest ever underdog victories, in a competition where the wage table has mirrored the points table for the best part of 25 years. A busy off-season, with two of the biggest international tournaments, followed by the phantasmagoria of the transfer market, has meant that we are back to where we started a year ago: bookmakers still believe Leicester City are more likely to get relegated (14-1 odds) than to win the league title once again (33-1). While the extent to which they have been shortened is testament to the magnitude of Leicester’s achievement, it speaks more of the Premier League’s financial muscle, and the power of each one of the usual suspects to attract the best footballing and managerial talent on a whim, irrespective of previously relevant considerations such as a place in the UEFA Champions League influencing transfer decisions. [caption id=“attachment_2771912” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Leicester City’s unlikely Premier League triumph will take the league’s popularity beyond the corridors of sport. Getty[/caption] Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, the only other clubs to have won the Premier League title since 2004, have all appointed new managers, having fallen short of expectations to varying degrees last season. Amid all this, Claudio Ranieri’s side have once again become just another side story, albeit a more prominent one with a high-profile pre-season tour across Europe and the USA. Midfield workhorse N’Golo Kante has given up the immediate perks of playing Champions League football in favour of potential longer term silverware prospects at Chelsea. However, the departure that could potentially affect Leicester more is that of Steve Walsh, their long-serving Assistant Manager and Head of Recruitment. Walsh oversaw the acquisitions of Kante, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, deals which now look like absolute steals, and his exit, along with rumours surrounding Craig Shakespeare, another key member of Ranieri’s backroom staff, moving to join Sam Allardyce in the England setup, could have a lasting impact. For now, though, their dealings in the transfer market have been prudent, with a host of exciting acquisitions across positions. Nampalys Mendy, known to Ranieri from his time at Monaco, and having captained Nice at the age of 23, will now play Kante’s defensive midfield role. While he would do well to match his predecessor’s work rate, at £12 million, the highly-rated Frenchman’s capture seems just the clairvoyant kind that characterises the core of their title-winning squad. Further behind, in goal, the experienced Ron-Robert Zieler’s arrival is set to keep Kasper Schmeichel on his toes, with increased workload across multiple competitions set to be shared between them. In defence, Luis Hernandez, signed from Sporting Gijon, would be backup to the established central defensive pairing of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, whose consistency carried Leicester through periods with goal droughts in the latter half of their season. Up top, Ahmed Musa is an upgrade to Shinji Okazaki and Leonardo Ulloa, and from the limited evidence so far, seems to be the striker who can lead the line in Vardy’s absence. His breathtaking run from the centre of the pitch to score Leicester’s first goal against Barcelona was reminiscent of some of Mahrez’s scintillating runs last season. All of this is without mentioning 20-year-old Bartosz Kaputska, the Polish wonderkind two-footed winger who impressed at Euro 2016. Kaputska made his international debut wearing the No.10, and his decisive performances for both club and country indicate that he would not be too much of a downgrade, even if Riyad Mahrez were to leave for new pastures. Ranieri used the least number of players over 38 games in the League last season, and would be the first to know that this one will be starkly different, with mid-week fixtures, often involving hectic travel to distant parts of Europe peppering their schedule. Miraculously, Leicester will come back home to play each one of their League fixtures following mid-week away games in the Champions League group stage. However, that is about as kind as the schedule has been to them, as they face Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United and Southampton, all within the first 7 weeks. Despite pre-season pleasantries and predictable brushing aside of pressure, Leicester are no longer a 5000-1 laughing stock and go into the season as the unlikeliest of defending champions. So far, they have done well to retain a majority of their core, and getting out of the transfer window without any further dents would be their top priority for now. That, more than anything else, would dictate how much Ranieri can maintain and improve upon the squad’s mindset, one of blithe spirits sprinting across the pitch, preying for counterattack opportunities. While tactics and philosophy become muscle memory for a group that has worked its way up multiple divisions together, the challenge would now be to find ways to outsmart some of the world’s best managers, who, by now, have gone through hours of analysis and dissections of the champions’ playing style. As Sir Alex Ferguson repeatedly observed, retaining a league title is harder than winning one, and while that might not be the expectation at Leicester, a largely settled squad, with a few significant upgrades across the pitch, would do well to go on and show that last season was no one off. If not anyone else, the League needs a story like this to last.