This video article was produced prior to the tragic events of the weekend. Our thoughts go out to the family of Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha and all those involved with Leicester City.
The difference between the Premier League’s top six and the rest has rarely been more pronounced than this season. Simply put, any of those teams will consider it a disaster to drop points against anyone from seventh down.
What better time then, to look back at simpler time, happier times perhaps, when the Premier League was just a sea of openness where anyone could beat anyone.
Okay, it’s never been like that since it’s renaming in 1992, it was just a one-season blip where Leicester City achieved the impossible. Still, this video has been requested a few times now, and it seems like a good time to look back on Claudio Ranieri’s brief but remarkable stint in charge at the King Power Stadium.
As always, loan signing and youth signing don’t count, only permanent first team additions.
Here are Claudio Ranieri’s last 7 Leicester City signings: Where are they now?
7. Wilfred Ndidi – Leicester City
If you remember rightly, Claudio Ranieri spent exactly 18 months in charge of Leicester City, being sacked as the Foxes struggled near the foot of the Premier League table in February 2017. His last signing and only January recruit the previous month was Wilfred Ndidi, who has proved a very good purchase by the Italian.
Ndidi is a tireless and intelligent defensive midfielder who recorded more tackles than any other player in the Premier League last season. At the age of 21, the Nigerian international is still improving, and Leicester should get far more than the £17 million they paid Genk to acquire his services should they sell him anytime soon.
6. Islam Slimani – Fenerbahce
Islam Slimani (R) and Fenerbahce’s Sporting Director Damien Comolli (L) poses for a photo during Slimani’s signing ceremony with Fenerbahce at the Ulker Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey on…
Leicester City’s club record signing, Islam Slimani arrived at the King Power Stadium for a fee of £28 million having scored prolifically for Sporting CP. He had averaged better than a goal every other game for the Portuguese giants, but was unable to replicate that form in England. An international teammate of Riyad Mahrez, Slimani bagged 8 goals in 35 Premier League games for the Foxes. He went on-loan to Newcastle United last season, and is on-loan in Turkey with Fenerbahce right now, where he’s scored 3 goals in 9 games.
5. Bartosz Kapustka – OH Leuven
Signed from Cracovia for £7.5 million in August 2016, Polish international Bartosz Kapustka made 4 appearances for Leicester in his first season with the club, although none came in the Premier League. Twice loaned out to Freiburg in Germany, the 21-year-old is now on-loan with Leicester’s feeder club OH Leuven in Belgium, who are managed by former Foxes boss Nigel Pearson.
4. Ahmed Musa – Al-Nassr
Ahmed Musa (L) of Nigeria competes for the ball with Gabriel Mercado of Argentina during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group D match between Nigeria and Argentina at Saint Petersburg…
A forward with searing pace who has scored a brace at two World Cup’s, like Islam Slimani, Ahmed Musa joined Leicester having scored prolifically elsewhere in Europe. A star man at CSKA Moscow, Musa commanded a £16.6 million fee, but he too struggled at the King Power. The Nigerian returned to CSKA on-loan for the second half of last season, and he left Leicester for good in the summer, joining Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he has found his shooting boots once more.
3. Nampalys Mendy – Leicester City
One of only two players in this seven still at Leicester City, Nampalys Mendy was a product of the AS Monaco academy, before spending three years as a star man at Nice. Having reportedly turned down the opportunity to join Manchester United earlier in his career, Mendy moved to England with Leicester in 2016 for £13 million. Supposedly a replacement for the outgoing N’Golo Kante, things haven’t really turned out that way, and Mendy had made only 4 Premier League appearances prior to the start of this season, although he has registered 7 already so far this term.
2. Luis Hernandez Rodriguez – Malaga
Areli Hernandez #12 of Queretaro struggles for the ball with Luis Rodriguez #28 of Tigres during the 11th round match between Queretaro and Tigres UANL as part of the Torneo Apertura 2018…
Spanish centre-back and long throw specialist Luis Hernandez Rodriguez was signed by Claudio Ranieri from Sporting Gijon as a free agent in 2016. A regular at Gijon, Rodriguez began the season in the Foxes starting XI, but he didn’t stay there for long. He made just 4 league appearances in his single season at the King Power, before being sold to Malaga for a little under £2 million. Rodriguez is a regular at Malaga, who were relegated from La Liga last season, meaning he now plays his football in Spain’s second tier.
1. Ron-Robert Zieler – Stuttgart
A full German international who was once part of the Manchester United academy and loaned out to Northampton Town, Ron-Robert Zieler returned to England after six years away with a move to Leicester in 2016. A fairly commanding and instinctive shot stopper formerly of Hannover, Zieler was unable to dethrone Kasper Schmeichel at the King Power, being sold to his current club Stuttgart after just a single season in the East Midlands.
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