Former Premier League champions, Leicester City is an English professional football club based in Leicester. The club competes in the top division of the country’s football and plays its home games at the King Power Stadium.
FutballNews understands that the club was founded in 1884 as Leicester Fosse F.C., playing on a field near Fosse Road before moving to Filbert Street in 1891. The club was elected to the Football League in 1894 and adopted the name Leicester City in 1919. They moved to the nearby Walkers Stadium in 2002, which was renamed the King Power Stadium in 2011.
Leicester have quickly become a force in the Premier League after winning the 2015–16 Premier League. Italian coach Claudio Ranieri led the Foxes to their first top-level football championship. They are one of only six clubs to have won the Premier League since its inception in 1992. Having tasted league success and the Champions League, the club has since established themselves further as a top 10 side.
After winning the title, the team was dubbed “The Unbelievables”, a spin-off hearkening back to Arsenal’s undefeated team “The Invincibles”. The club’s previous highest ever finish was second place in the top flight, in 1928–29, then known as Division One. Throughout Leicester’s history, they have spent all but one season in the top two leagues of English football. They hold a joint-highest seven second-tier titles (six Second Division and one Championship).
The club’s s fairy tale continued in the 2016/17 season after winning the title by reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League where they were narrowly beaten by Atletico Madrid. However, they could only manage a 12th place finish in the league, with Claudio Ranieri incredibly losing his job for poor domestic form.
Craig Shakespeare came in and steadied the ship, but he too has since been dismissed after a poor start to 2018/18. The club also appointed former Southampton boss Claude Puel, who was also sacked for poor performance.
Former Liverpool and Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers was then appointed in 2019. He has since led the Foxes to third place in the league table and with a real shot of landing a top-four finish. With the signing of Holland international Youri Tielemans from AS Monaco and English midfielder James Maddison from Norwich, the Foxes have been superb this season. Both attacking midfielders have garnered a lot of praise for their performances in the league which has linked them to a move away from the King Power stadium.
According to Spotrac, Leicester pay out £69.5m on player wages, placing them ninth in the Premier League for money spent paying their players. the club is on the top ten list because they signed players and offered a couple of contract extensions.
The traditional top six, Crystal Palace and Everton are all above the Foxes in the ranking. The club is estimated to be paying around £10m less on wages as compared to last season. This is due to the sale of Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City and Harry Maguire to Manchester United in the summer.
England international Jamie Vardy is the highest-paid player in Leicester after signing a new contract in the summer of 2018. Vardy signed a new four-year contract worth £140,000-per-week and has an annual salary of £7.3m. The striker is set to remain at the club until retirement age unless any top European clubs are interested in signing him.
Club captain Kasper Schmeichel is the second-highest-paid player on £130,000-per-week with an annual salary of £6.8m. The Danish goalkeeper joined the Foxes from Man City on June 27, 2011.
Below is the full Leicester City squad 2019-20 salary per week;
Player | Gross Weekly Wages |
Jamie Vardy | £140,000 |
Kasper Schmeichel | £130,000 |
Jonny Evans | £80,000 |
Wilfred Ndidi | £75,000 |
Ricardo Pereira | £70,000 |
Ben Chilwell | £65,000 |
Kelechi Iheanacho | £60,000 |
Wes Morgan | £60,000 |
Demarai Gray | £55,000 |
James Maddison | £55,000 |
Christian Fuchs | £50,000 |
Marc Albrighton | £45,000 |
Ayoze Perez | £45,000 |
Caglar Soyuncu | £45,000 |
Youri Tielemans | £35,000 |
Matty James | £32,000 |