leicester city

Man City may be questioning Leicester City transfer decision

Published

9 months ago

February 27, 2024

Leicester City have enjoyed a high-flying league campaign so far this season.

The Foxes have remained at the top of the Championship table since their eighth game of the season, and now with just 12 games remaining, they look strong contenders for automatic promotion. 25 wins in 34 league games is the current record that sees them sit as frontrunners for the title.

Despite their already successful season, Leicester have recently endured a couple of setbacks, having lost 2-1 at home to Middlesbrough, before travelling to Elland Road and losing out to promotion rivals, Leeds United. Those losses have tightened the gap between Leicester and Leeds to just six points, as both sides battle it out for the title.

Championship Table (As it stands February 26th)
	Team	P	GD	Pts
1	Leicester City	34	41	78
2	Leeds United	34	37	72
3	Ipswich Town	34	23	72
4	Southampton	34	23	67
5	West Brom	34	17	56
6	Hull City	34	7	55
7	Norwich City	34	8	52
8	Preston	34	-5	52

Leicester have the best goal-scoring record in the league, having netted 70 goals in 34 games, but they also have the second-best defensive record, and this has made them incredibly difficult to beat.

One player who has had less of an impact than expected with the Foxes this season, is young defender Callum Doyle. The Leicester City centre-backs have been so impressive, that Doyle’s game time has been limited, and this will be something that his parent club, Manchester City, will be questioning.

High expectations of Callum Doyle

Prior to joining Leicester City in the summer, Doyle enjoyed two rather successful loan spells as he began to gain experience in the senior game. An important figure in the youth teams of both Manchester City and England, Doyle looked mature enough for senior football from the age of 17, as he joined Sunderland in the summer of 2021.

His spell with the Black Cats couldn’t have gone much better for all parties, as he made 44 appearances in all competitions to help the club earn long-awaited promotion from League One.

At the end of the season, he rejoined his parent club and was sent back out on loan, this time to Coventry City in the Championship. Following on from Doyle’s promotion-winning campaign, he enjoyed another play-off finish with the Sky Blues, but they just missed out in the final on penalties against Luton Town.

Doyle was one of Coventry’s most vital assets in defence last season, as he made 39 league starts at centre-back, as part of a formidable back three. He quickly proved his worth in the second tier, and with his call-up and goal for England’s U21s, he quickly became one of the most promising centre-backs in the country.

From League One promotion, to Championship play-offs, the next natural step for Doyle’s career was a loan move to Leicester City, who arguably have the best resources in the Championship. In addition, their manager, Enzo Maresca, was recently Assistant Manager to Pep Guardiola at Man City.

Doyle’s spell with Leicester so far

The general expectation in the Championship this season was that the Foxes would be directly in the title race, and so far that has certainly been the case, but Doyle has appeared far less than Manchester City would’ve hoped, after two very successful loan spells in the EFL.

Unfortunately, the 20-year-old spent three full months on the sidelines through injury before making a return in January, but since this injury spell, he has struggled to get into Leicester’s starting eleven. Even before his injury, Doyle was typically deployed at left-back, despite being a centre-back by trade.

He made eight consecutive league starts at the beginning of the season, but rarely operated in the centre-back role that he had seemingly perfected in his previous two loan spells. Leicester’s centre-backs, Wout Faes and Jannik Vestergaard, have been in fine form this season and have played a huge part in the Foxes’ title charge, but this, in turn, has limited Doyle’s game time as he is no longer being handed regular Championship starts.

Manchester City may be looking at this and wondering if they would have been better off sending Doyle to another club, where he would be guaranteed a place in the starting eleven, week in week out. His injury mid-way through the season certainly did not help, but even when he has been fit, he has not been able to continue his progression in the centre-back role, and Manchester City will be hoping that this does not hinder his overall progression in the game.