James Maddison, Youri Tielemans and Harvey Barnes have since departed, yet the remainder of that squad still looks too good for the Championship.
The Foxes had won all but one of their eight league fixtures ahead of today’s visit to Blackburn, and began the weekend perched at the summit of the table, above Ipswich on goal difference.
The worrying thing for the rest of the Championship is that Leicester haven’t even played particularly well.
Early victories against Coventry, Huddersfield, Cardiff and Rotherham had a scratchy feel to them, and a subsequent 1-0 home reverse against Hull appeared to expose the flaws in a side that was just about doing enough.
Since then, however, Leicester have annihilated Southampton 4-1 (it should have been more) and dominated high-quality opposition in comfortable victories over Norwich (20) and Bristol City (1-0).
“We’ve only had a few months with our process here, and we’re at the start of a very long race,” said manager Enzo Maresca, an ex-Juventus and Sevilla midfielder who worked as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Man City before taking charge at Leicester in June.
“There are still many things we need to do, but we’re in a good place right now. You just need to keep improving every day and in every session.”
Maresca has been key to Leicester’s revival. Under Brendan Rodgers, Leicester played a swift counter-attacking style aimed at springing Jamie Vardy in behind opposition defences.
It yielded an FA Cup and successive fifth-place finishes, but a combination of Vardy’s diminishing pace, the inconsistency of his understudies, and injuries to key defenders exposed Rodgers’ lack of a plan B.
Maresca was recruited specifically to usher in a more progressive style and, so far, that is exactly what he’s done.
Unsurprisingly, the Italian has been heavily influenced by Guardiola, with possession and fluid positioning cornerstones of his gameplan. He also deploys the Spaniard’s three-man frontline, using two rapid wingers and overlapping full-backs to create overloads in wide areas.
Gone is the focus on transition; Leicester now dominate the ball, averaging 62.1 per cent possession per match, and build attacks patiently from the back.
Harry Winks, a summer signing from Tottenham, is particularly influential in this regard. The 27-year-old, capped ten times by England, is averaging 86.1 passes per game, more than any other midfielder in the division.
Maresca’s tactical revolution is perhaps most evident in the transformation of Vardy, who can now be found dropping into midfield and linking play, leaving the legwork to the likes of pacy wideman Stephy Mavididi and driving playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
“I’m very happy with the players because they are willing to learn and have an open mind to see new things,” said Maresca. “This is the most important thing. The way they grow and the way they are getting better game by game, day after day, in the training sessions, I’m very happy about this.”
Get better is what Leicester have done on an almost gameby-game basis and those early teething problems now look to be a thing of the past.
