Leicester City's outrageous £203m transfer window as shock Nottingham Forest deal tipped in bold prediction

These are strange times for Leicester City as they plan their return to the Premier League without a manager. Just weeks after leading the Foxes to the Championship title, Enzo Maresca was tempted away from the King Power Stadium by a lucrative offer from Chelsea. What lies ahead for Leicester remains to be seen but there are some major decisions that are required over the coming weeks as a number of key players approach the end of their current contracts.

Who will make those decisions is unknown, as is how the Foxes could act in the transfer market in their bid to re-establish themselves amongst English football’s elite. So, we here are 3AddedMinutes thought we would try and get some sort of indication of how the coming months could play out. We fired up Football Manager 2024 to see how the world’s most popular management simulation predicted the Foxes hierarchy would act - and it started with the shock appointment of former Chelsea and Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino.

Goalkeepers

Pochettino wasted little time in putting his own stamp on the Foxes squad - although he did retain faith with Daniel Iversen and Mads Hermansen.  owever, there is a new threat to the current Foxes duo after their new manager handed over £5m to Monaco to sign Swiss goalkeeper Phillipp Kohn.

Pochettino’s goalkeeping options: Daniel Iversen, Phillipp Kohn, Mads Hermansen.

Defenders

The former Spurs and Chelsea manager would conduct something of an overhaul of his defensive ranks and swelled the coffers with around £77m. Full-back duo James Justin and Ricardo Pereira joined West Ham United and Bournemouth for a combined income of around £52m. Wout Faes (£17m to Southampton), Harry Souttar (£5.5m to Brentford) and Jannik Vestergaard (£3m to Norwich City) also departed. Pochettino wasted little time in replacing them as £17m landed Almeria star Cesar Montes before paying £7.5m to secure Monaco’s El Chadaille Bitshiabu. The new Foxes boss continued to add to his squad as a combined £16m landed Gent’s Jordan Torunarigha, Sturm Graz sat Max Johnston and Fulham full-back Kevin Mbabu.

Pochettino’s defensive options: Conor Coady, Cesar Montes, Ben Nelson, Luke Thomas, Kevin Mbabu, Max Johnston, Victor Kristensen, El Chadaille Bitshiabu, Jordan Tornarigha.

Midfielders

There were two new additions in the heart of the side for Pochettino and one will have caused quite the stir after the Foxes landed Nottingham Forest star Morgan Gibbs-White in a £32m deal. Genoa’s Morten Frondrup was also secured for a more modest fee of £6m. There were departures in midfield as Hamza Choudhury joined Wolves in a £13.5m move and Wilfried Ndidi and Dennis Pratt joined Roma and Lille on free transfers after their contracts at the King Power Stadium came to a close.

Pochettino’s midfield options: Morgan Gibbs-White, Morten Frendrup, Harry Winks, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Boubakary Soumare.

Forwards

There were two departures from Pochettino’s forward ranks as Kelechi Iheanacho made an £8m move to Burnley as he was chosen to spearhead the Clarets push to return to the top flight at the first time of asking. Sadly, Jamie Vardy’s time as a Fox came to a close as the former Premier League and FA Cup winner moved to MLS side LAFC on a free transfer. 

In terms of incomings, there were plenty as Brazilian striker Willian Jose joined in a £2.5m move from Real Betis and Lokomotiv Moscow winger Sergey Pinyaev moved to Leicester for a fee of £10.5m. Rodrigo Riquelme, son of Argentina legend Juan Roman, joined from Atletico Madrid in a £7.5m move and Swedish winger Pontus Almqvist joined on a free transfer after leaving Rostov.

Pochettino’s forward options: Kasey McAteer, Stephy Mavididi, Sergey Pinyaev, Patson Daka, Tom Cannon, Rodrigo Riquelme, Pontus Almqvist, Willian Jose.