It was the biggest shock in European football, a 5001.00 shot. Leicester City’s improbable title win in the 2016 Premier League season was hailed as a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, and rightly so.
The Foxes fans were delirious when Claudio Ranieri coached the team, which narrowly escaped relegation the previous year, to win the league title by fighting off a challenge from Manchester City and Spurs. The Midlanders were happy; they had the trophy and Champions League football, but they also had a taste for success.
Fast forward four years later and Leicester City are starting to look like a title contender again. Maybe not this year, but when the 2020/21 campaign begins the Foxes will warrant a closer look.
This team is better than the Class of ‘16
That the Premier League 2020 betting odds have pretty much cemented Leicester in a top-three position — five points ahead of Chelsea and eight clear of Manchester United in fifth place — is testament to the quality in Brendan Rodgers’ squad.
It might seem a little ungracious to suggest that Leicester’s 2016 success was as much down to a baffling underachievement by the “Big Six,” but I can’t believe that Ranieri’s heroes could have overhauled Liverpool and Manchester City this term.
From that league winning side only keeper Kasper Schmeichel and striker Jamie Vardy are still in the current starting line-up, and as one of the major stars of 2016 Vardy has been writing the Premier League 2020 news headlines again.
Vardy is in pole position to win the Golden Boot at the end of the season with 19 goals to his name, two ahead of nearest rival Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.
Back in 2016, Vardy had Riyad Mahrez as his creative partner, but now he has a choice. Belgian forward Youri Tielemens is a mercurial talent, while young England star James Maddison has attracted attention from some of the best sides in Europe.
Meanwhile, 22-year-old Harvey Barnes has come of age this season and is developing into an attacking midfielder with a big future. He showcased his array of skills with two goals in Leicester’s 4-0 annihilation of Aston Villa in the final game before the COVID-19 pandemic halted the Premier League.
N’Golo Kante was the midfield lynchpin of the 2016 side, and now the Foxes have Wilfred Ndidi. The current centre-back pairing Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu also compare favourably with Robert Huth and Wes Morgan.
The 2016 team has a place in legend, but the 2020 group is the future.
Rodgers has unfinished business
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers was one of the most sought-after young coaches in the world when he took the job at Liverpool in 2012. He came agonisingly close to winning the 2014 Premier League title, but a slip by captain Steven Gerrard meant the wait for the Reds went on.
Rodgers had guided Liverpool to the top of the table, playing a free-flowing brand of football, and with three games to go, they had their destiny in their own hands.
But after controlling the first half of a game against Chelsea, the Reds went a goal down when Gerrard slipped as he was trying to collect a pass, and Demba Ba accepted a gift of a goal.
That took the wind out of Liverpool’s sails and Manchester City collected the title.
Pandemic might level the playing field
Football clubs worldwide have suffered a lack of income over the past couple of months, and while the impact on lower league clubs could be catastrophic, the whole of the game might be about to change the way it does business.
From a PR point of view, for English clubs to consider paying hundreds of millions of pounds on players at a time when fans are losing their jobs might look out of sync with the rest of society.
The CIES Football Observatory has said transfer values could drop by as much as 28 per cent across the big European leagues, as potential buyers have less money to spend.
Premier League clubs already owe £1.6 billion for players bought, and as the market tightens, some of the mid-table clubs will be more inclined to keep hold of their star players if they don’t know how easy it will be to replace them.
We may see more young talent like Barnes and Maddison emerging, particularly if the biggest clubs find it more difficult to win trophies by waving a cheque book.
The 2019/20 season is about to restart, on 17th June, and surely Liverpool will lift the title at the end of this campaign; but when the SBOBET team have the odds ready for next season, take a look at the Foxes…they won’t be at 5001.00!
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