Brown Nose
Well-Known Member
We've awarded some new contracts to older players over recent months. Jonny Evans is 33 today and has a new contract which will take him to 35.
Next week, Jamie Vardy turns 34 joining his old team mate Kasper Schmeichel who turned 34 a couple of months ago. Vardy was given a new deal in August taking him to 36. Schmeichel has a contract taking him to 36 too.
Three key and integral players all definite starters in our best team. All secured to deals to 2023. However, all are at that age where they will undoubtedly begin to deteriorate. They may lose pace or pick up more frequent injuries or just lose their sharpness. But no amount of time in cryotherapy treatment can prevent their ageing.
In addition to these three, we have Morgan turning 37 in a few days. He is now playing on memory and appears incapable of dong anything other than a few minutes due to his knackered back. Fuchs turns 35 in April and can give his all for a game or two but then he looks his age. The lesser spotted Jakupovic is 36.
That's 6 players over the age of 33 in the first team squad.
We can expect that Morgan, Fuchs and Jakupovic will cease their playing careers at the end of this season - for us at least. They have nothing much left to offer. But what of those three huge players for us?
As a goalkeeper, Schmeichel may be protected a little by his position but he is now the second oldest keeper playing regularly in the PL. Fewer old keepers seem to maintain themselves at the top level than they used to. 35 seems to be about the limit for most. Schmeichel turns 35 in November.
Evans has always been an injury prone player. He has also closing in on 100 caps for Northern Ireland and he takes himself off for international duty at every opportunity. How long can he keep on playing at the top level? Is it realistic to see him in the centre of our defence regularly for another two and a half seasons?
And then there is our legend, our talisman. The one who makes us capable of competing against anyone. He's already broken records as the oldest Golden Boot winner. But when and how does this end? He is already carrying a number of injuries to hip and groin that will never go away. He is already incapable of playing two games in quick succession. When does his age affect his every game? When does Vardy stop being the Vardy we know and love? If you take away his penalties, is he really as good this season as he was last season? I'm not sure he is.
Now we have the training ground in place, the expectation is that we will shortly go on to begin to develop the stadium. This will be a massive investment, dwarfing the £100m spent at Seagrave. Whilst we are investing off the pitch, we cannot be doing it on the pitch. Our approach has been to sell players and reinvest that money on young players with potential. However, we're now approaching a time bomb. It cost us about £5m to bring Schmeichel, Evans and Vardy into the club. Replacing them will cost us a fortune. If we are busy spending on infrastructure and hoping that the squad ticks over, we will slide backwards. Because let's be clear, when we don't have Vardy and Evans and Schmeichel at full power, we are not going to be competing in the top six.
I wonder whether we should suspend stadium development plans and focus instead on investing in the squad for a couple of seasons? That way, we have a better chance of managing through this time bomb and we can develop the stadium later. I think this summer is the time to attempt to bring in a new keeper and a new striker - probably at huge cost. If we just sell another asset (probably Tielemans) and reinvest that money, I don't think it will do the job as it has for the last few years.
Next week, Jamie Vardy turns 34 joining his old team mate Kasper Schmeichel who turned 34 a couple of months ago. Vardy was given a new deal in August taking him to 36. Schmeichel has a contract taking him to 36 too.
Three key and integral players all definite starters in our best team. All secured to deals to 2023. However, all are at that age where they will undoubtedly begin to deteriorate. They may lose pace or pick up more frequent injuries or just lose their sharpness. But no amount of time in cryotherapy treatment can prevent their ageing.
In addition to these three, we have Morgan turning 37 in a few days. He is now playing on memory and appears incapable of dong anything other than a few minutes due to his knackered back. Fuchs turns 35 in April and can give his all for a game or two but then he looks his age. The lesser spotted Jakupovic is 36.
That's 6 players over the age of 33 in the first team squad.
We can expect that Morgan, Fuchs and Jakupovic will cease their playing careers at the end of this season - for us at least. They have nothing much left to offer. But what of those three huge players for us?
As a goalkeeper, Schmeichel may be protected a little by his position but he is now the second oldest keeper playing regularly in the PL. Fewer old keepers seem to maintain themselves at the top level than they used to. 35 seems to be about the limit for most. Schmeichel turns 35 in November.
Evans has always been an injury prone player. He has also closing in on 100 caps for Northern Ireland and he takes himself off for international duty at every opportunity. How long can he keep on playing at the top level? Is it realistic to see him in the centre of our defence regularly for another two and a half seasons?
And then there is our legend, our talisman. The one who makes us capable of competing against anyone. He's already broken records as the oldest Golden Boot winner. But when and how does this end? He is already carrying a number of injuries to hip and groin that will never go away. He is already incapable of playing two games in quick succession. When does his age affect his every game? When does Vardy stop being the Vardy we know and love? If you take away his penalties, is he really as good this season as he was last season? I'm not sure he is.
Now we have the training ground in place, the expectation is that we will shortly go on to begin to develop the stadium. This will be a massive investment, dwarfing the £100m spent at Seagrave. Whilst we are investing off the pitch, we cannot be doing it on the pitch. Our approach has been to sell players and reinvest that money on young players with potential. However, we're now approaching a time bomb. It cost us about £5m to bring Schmeichel, Evans and Vardy into the club. Replacing them will cost us a fortune. If we are busy spending on infrastructure and hoping that the squad ticks over, we will slide backwards. Because let's be clear, when we don't have Vardy and Evans and Schmeichel at full power, we are not going to be competing in the top six.
I wonder whether we should suspend stadium development plans and focus instead on investing in the squad for a couple of seasons? That way, we have a better chance of managing through this time bomb and we can develop the stadium later. I think this summer is the time to attempt to bring in a new keeper and a new striker - probably at huge cost. If we just sell another asset (probably Tielemans) and reinvest that money, I don't think it will do the job as it has for the last few years.
