Leicester City will hope winning the Championship title last season sets them up for a fantastic season in the Premier League to follow, even with it being all change in the managerial dug-out at the King Power Stadium.
A change in the Foxes hot-seat does have the potential to make a few players in the East Midlands feel uneasy, with Ricardo Pereira waxing lyrical that the recently departed Enzo Maresca is the “best coach” he’s had in his stay at Leicester, but the newly promoted side cannot dwell on the blow of the Italian moving onto Chelsea.
Any disappointment about the title-winning boss leaving would soon be put to one side if Leicester can get in either of these two faces, who look to be the two major frontrunners for the vacancy according to reports, ahead of the new top-flight campaign getting underway.
Leicester manager hunt narrowed down to two names
As per an exclusive from Football Insider, sources have revealed to the site that Graham Potter and Steve Cooper are the two major names in the running.
Potter, according to the site, is the slight favourite over Cooper, but a stumbling block could be in the club’s way, with the ex-Brighton and Hove Albion manager unconvinced by the job post, having rejected other offers before being contacted by Leicester.
That could open the door for Cooper to sprint in and become Maresca’s successor, therefore, who would get so much more out of the likes of James Justin in the Foxes camp in the top-flight, based on working his magic previously with various players at Leicester’s near neighbours and rivals Nottingham Forest during their promotion heroics.
Capped one time by the senior England side, Cooper could use what he did with Djed Spence at the City Ground on the former Luton Town man, who could be transformed back to his best under the Welshman, after a solid but a little unspectacular season under Maresca last time out.
How Cooper can get more out of Justin
Spence has never quite been the same since leaving Forest behind after promotion glory was secured under Cooper, now finding himself playing out on loan in Italy at Genoa, after a major move to Tottenham Hotspur just did not work whatsoever for him – having made just six appearances for the north London side.
Under Cooper, Spence was a different beast altogether to the one he is now, picking up eight goal contributions when alternating between right-back and right-midfield duties from 46 total games during the 2021/22 season, with Justin operating in a similarly gung-ho fashion in the past.
| Spence vs Justin – most prolific seasons as full-backs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stat | Spence (21/22) | Justin (18/19) |
| Games played | 46 | 52 |
| Goals scored | 3 | 3 |
| Assists | 5 | 9 |
| Fee moved on for | £12.5m | £8m |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt/Sky Sports | ||
Justin would pick up 12 goal contributions as an attack-minded full-back for Luton back during the 2018/19 campaign, with the 26-year-old struggling to ever reach these heights since exploding into life in League One, when moving to Leicester for a bumper £8m.
Last season under Maresca was his most fruitful season in a Leicester strip funnily enough, amassing four goals and assists along the way to the Foxes becoming second-tier champions, but plenty more could come from the 5 foot 10 defender if Cooper is handed the reins.
This stunning strike from the Leicester number two the season just gone showcases Justin’s prowess when involving himself in attacks, and the “incredible” Cooper, as he was once labelled by Sam Allardyce on the No Tippy Tappy Podcast, could really take the 26-year-old up a notch.
Eager to get back in and amongst it, after finding himself waiting on the wings for a new job role after his sacking by Forest last year, the Foxes could begin to get impatient with Potter and just opt to appoint their other option soon in Cooper.
