Leicester City notebook: Where £242m squad ranks as Boubakary Soumare told he needs translator
The most recent information on Leicester City includes the total transfer fees, Soumare’s debut for Sevilla, a summer sale impressing for Liverpool, and a Thai prospect playing for OH Leuven.
Despite making a net profit of more than £50m in the summer transfer window, head onto social media and accusations of Leicester City buying the league can be found.
But what is true is that they have the most expensively-assembled squad in the division. In fact, it’s the 26th most expensive squad in world football.
According to data gathered by CIES, City’s team cost €281 million (£242 million) to assemble, which puts them between AC Milan and Bayer Leverkusen on the list. Only one team outside of Europe’s top five divisions paid a higher transfer fee than City, and that team is Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, who now boasts Neymar, Ruben Neves, and Aleksandar Mitrovic. Al Hilal paid €382 million (£329 million).
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Interestingly, City, AC Milan, and Roma are the only three clubs in the top 50 to have invested more in their defense than any other position. City spent €106 million (£91 million) on their current full-backs and center-backs, ranking 19th in terms of cost and just €9 million less than Real Madrid spent on their current back-line. City has invested €77 million (£66 million) in both midfielders and attackers, and then €21 million (£18 million) on goalkeepers.
Showing the gulf between the Premier League and Championship, Southampton and Leeds are not far behind City, on €228m and €226m respectively. The next most expensive squad in the Championship belongs to Norwich, at €76m.
Boubakary Soumare didn’t get to make his debut for Sevilla before the international break after their clash with Atletico Madrid was rained off, but he has now featured for his new loan club. He helped them see out a 1-0 win over Las Palmas, playing the final five minutes of the game, as Sevilla secured their first points of the La Liga season.
However, if Soumare wants more game-time, he needs to “look for a very good translator”, according to manager Jose Luis Mendilibar. Right now, with the French midfielder unable to speak Spanish and therefore not take in the coach’s instructions, regular game-time might be an issue.
Mendilibar said after the weekend’s game: “Soumare doesn’t understand me, so he has to make an effort or look for a very good translator. For those who come with little training time, it seems that football is universal, but you have to understand what is asked of each person, and those who do not know the language have a harder time.”
While he can’t yet communicate with his manager or many of his team-mates, he will be able to speak to the opposition this week. The Champions League group stage kicks off with Sevilla taking on Lens on Wednesday, the French side recently recruiting former City midfielder Papy Mendy
Thai prospect joins OH Leuven
This summer, much was made about Suphanat Mueanta joining City, the grand hope of Thai football. Even the club’s chairman, Aiyawatt “Top” Srivaddhanaprabha, spoke about it while the team was in Asia.
After training with sister side OH Leuven, he has now joined the Belgian club on loan for the season, and played his first Under-23s game over the weekend, completing 83 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Gent.
Coach Eddy Vanhemel said of Mueanta’s performance: “I have to say that, despite only being in Belgium for a few days, he has shown that he has qualities. He showed his speed, individual action and threat. A good football player, nice to be able to work with.”
There’s been a lot of change and speculation at City’s sister club over recent weeks. Their CEO Peter Willems left and the director of football Ariel Jacobs was asked about the future of manager Marc Brys after the club took just two points from their first five matches. Since then, they’ve got their first win before drawing with top-of-the-table Gent at the weekend.
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