Leicester City could lose key men Youri Tielemans and James Maddison soon after Wesley Fofana went last summer
Journalist Fabrizio Romano has revealed that the relationship between Brendan Rodgers and Leicester City has not been great since the summer.
What’s the latest on Brendan Rodgers and Leicester?
Over the weekend, following a Premier League defeat away at Crystal Palace, the Foxes decided to part ways with their manager.
Indeed, in an official statement, the club said they had reached a “mutual agreement” with Rodgers for him to depart after four years in charge.
The news comes as no great surprise. After all, that loss against Palace left Leicester 19th in the division on 25 points after 28 games.
Even so, despite all their recent issues, it seems as though the problems began to mount up behind the scenes during the summer transfer window.
When speaking about it all on the House of Champions: A CBS Soccer Podcast, Romano explained that Wesley Fofana’s move to Chelsea left Rodgers with doubts about what direction the club was heading in.
He said (noon): “There was this kind of feeling already. In the summer, maybe you remember the situation in Fofana. When they decided to sell Fofana to Chelsea, that was not exactly what he wanted. Not about selling the player, but the strategy
“Youri Tielemans is out of contract. [James] Maddison is attracting a lot of interest and it is not going to be easy for Leicester to keep him in the summer.
“So it’s about the whole project and this is why the situation between Rogers and Leicester was not great. Of course on the pitch, but also off the pitch.
Why did Rodgers leave Leicester?
The 50-year-old had a fair amount of success with the Foxes. After all, in the club statement announcing his departure, he is named “one of the most successful managers in the Club’s history”.
It notes that he helped the club to their first FA Cup triumph in 2021, and subsequently also saw them lift the FA Community Shield while enjoying a run to their first European semi-final.
However, Rodgers wasn’t convinced by the long-term vision behind the scenes.
For instance, when Fofana was sold, he wasn’t that keen on letting the defender go, saying (via Leicester Mercury): “I was hoping he would (stay) because he’s a top-class operator, and that’s what you want as a coach if you want to improve and develop. You hope he would be here.”
And after that, he admitted that he was unsure how that money would be reinvested, adding: “There have been discussions but it’s certainly not going to be the whole fee
“I think there’s part of that that will go to Saint-Etienne as well, plus there’s the situation that the club is in…”
While Chelsea paid £75m, a lot less than that has been spent on new arrivals since that deal. With that in mind, it’s not hard to see why Rodgers had his doubt about the project.
Still, regardless of that, he wasn’t getting the best out of the players he did have available to him and so it’s no shock both parties have now agreed to go their separate ways.
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