Leicester City: Project continues as King, Chilwell commit futures.
By Jake Cursley
This week has seen a huge step in Leicester City’s project of continued success with the club’s longest serving player Andy king and youngster Ben Chilwell both signing new long term contracts.
For a long time Ben Chilwell’s future looked up in the air. Described as one of the best young left-backs in the country there was interest from Liverpool who looked to steal him away from the Premier League champions after having an £8m bid rejected.
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Despite not playing a single league game for Leicester City, Chilwell looks to force his way into Claudio Ranieri’s first team after impressing in last weekend’s pre-season win over Celtic.
He told Leicester City’s ‘Foxes Player’ “I’m Buzzing. It’s a great thing to sign a new long-term contract with Leicester.” He went on to say “Personally I am happy. I feel fit and I feel good.”
Chilwell is in direct competition with Austrian national team captain Christian Fuchs to become Leicester City’s first choice left-back.
Ranieri had nothing but good words to say for the 19 year old, stating “Ben is a big player with a big future and I am happy that his future will be with Leicester City. Ever since I arrived at Leicester, Ben has been a young player that has shown a lot of promise”.
Chilwell isn’t the only player committing his future to Leicester City.
Andy King, Leicester’s all-time leading goal scorer from Midfield is also commiting his future to the foxes after being on the brink of signing a new four-year deal.
Having arrived from Chelsea’s academy in 2006, Andy King is ready to start his 10th campaign for Leicester City after becoming the first person to win the Premier League, Championship and League One all with the same club.
King, who has scored 59 goals in 331 for the foxes in 9 seasons has had the year of his life. Helping Leicester City defy the 5000-1 odds to become champions both on the pitch and in the dressing room as well as helping Wales reach the semi-finals of the Euro’s before being knocked out by eventual winners Portugal.
King’s previous contract was set to expire in the summer of 2018, with his new contract committing his future to Leicester City until at least 2020.
With Vardy already accepting a brand new £100,000 a week contract and Drinkwater and Schmeichel being offered new contracts, along with Riyad Mahrez still snubbing bigger clubs, Leicester City’s future looks bright as they head towards the Champions League group stages, entering the competition as top seeds due to winning the league.
After losing midfield engine N’Golo Kante to London giants Chelsea, Leicester City looked to be on the brink of falling apart with many suspecting a domino effect to take place.
The picking apart of a smaller club after a successful season seems inevitable when looking back on past evidence, just ask Southampton fans, who for the third summer in a row have lost their best players.
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However with King, Chilwell, Vardy and Mahrez banding together and showing resilience, it gives hope to all smaller clubs around the country. Perhaps passion and team spirit will prevail over money after all.