No crazy spending, says Foxes’ Aiyawatt
LEICESTER CITY vice chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha says the club has no plans to spend big money on new players in the frenzied summer transfer market, and would focus instead on being in the top half of the Premier League standings by the end of the year.
“We will try to fight in every game and get into the top half of the table by December. If everything goes right, we will set a new target,” Aiyawatt said last week during his visit to Hong Kong, where Leicester City took part in the pre-season Premier League Asia Trophy.
The Foxes made global headlines by winning the Premier League in the 2015-2016 season. Under the guidance of manager Craig Shakespeare, they ended up in 12th spot last season but made an impressive run in the European Champions League by reaching the quarter-finals, the only British team to make the last four.
Aiyawatt, the son of Foxes chairman Vichai, hopes to see his team make it to Europe again, preferably in the Champions League.
“If we reach the first [EPL] target by December, we will put more focus on the FA Cup since it’s a short-cut to the Europa League. In that scenario, we would not be under any kind of pressure for survival in the EPL,” said the CEO.
“As a small team, we added colour to the Champions League and reached the quarter-finals. It was fun for fans to see a small team battling with the giants in the tournament,” he said. “By December we will either be among the top teams or fighting to escape relegation. Leicester are unpredictable. They surprise even me,”
Though several Premier League clubs have been spending big money on new players, Aiyawatt said he has no plans to indulge in lavish deals. The club has signed goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic of Switzerland, English defender Harry Maguire and midfielder Vicente Iborra of Spain over the past couple of months, each of them costing under ?15 million.
“Every team in the EPL is investing a lot of money now. We are not going to spend crazy like the big teams. We need to find a player who wants to prove himself and isn’t concerned about a high salary. Leicester doesn’t want to pay high salaries for new players. We already have players in the team who are really good,” said Aiyawatt, who wants to strengthen his team by signing a talented youngster.
Shakespeare, successor to Claudio Ranieri, the Italian who guided the Foxes to their improbable EPL title, admits he is under pressure after taking up the post but believes that Leicester can reach the heights again.
“Why not believe that you can have that experience again? If you accept second best and if you are not sure, it will be difficult. We have to make sure that we are competitive and we have to believe,” the manager said.
