Leicester City’s start to the season hasn’t been remarkable, it has rather been lukewarm.with four wins and four losses from their first eight games in the Premier League, the Foxes currently sit 10th in the standings with 12 points.
Some of the young players have really taken their game to the next level and the team has reaped the fruits of their impressive and consistent performances. Ben Chilwell and Demarai Gray have established themselves as first-team regulars ahead of the more experienced Christian Fuchs and Marc Albrighton. As a matter of fact, manager Claude Puel has preferred the exuberance of youth over the older heads in the team.
A prime example of that would be the rise of James Maddison. The Foxes signed the 21-year-old from Norwich City in the summer for a fee of £22 million and the youngster has flourished under the tutelage of Claude Puel. So much so, Maddison has been rewarded with an England call-up for his remarkable form this season which has seen him contribute with 3 goals and 2 assists.
Shinji Okazaki is not the only old head in the squad who has fallen out-of-favour under Claude Puel, the others being Danny Simpson, Andy King and Christian Fuchs. The 32-year-old Japanese international has made only four appearances in the Premier League, all of them coming as a substitute off the bench and has played a total of only 25 minutes this season. He has started on two occasions in the Carabao Cup but hasn’t been able to put up a performance of substance.
Okazaki, who was a part of Leicester’s Premier League winning squad in the 2015-16 season, has looked visibly rusty and those sharp turns and elegant touches that used to make him such a dangerous player in the final third, are no longer to be found in his game. A part of his slip down the pecking order can also be attributed to the rise of Kelechi Iheanacho and James Maddison. Okazaki is also capable of leading the attack but is not likely to do so in the presence of Jamie Vardy.
Leicester have enough options to play in the ‘attacking four’ of their 4-2-3-1 formation. James Maddison, Marc Albrighton, Demarai Gray, Rachid Ghezzal, Kelechi Iheanacho and Ricardo Pereira have all fitted in perfectly to the manager’s plans and there seems to be no place for the 32-year-old. Also, Leicester have the luxury of recalling Harvey Barnes from his loan spell. The youngster has come up with flying colours in the Championship this season and this would be just the ideal time to introduce him to the Premier League.
That further closes the door for Okazaki who doesn’t seem to have much football left in him at the age of 32. There won’t be much money left in him either and the Foxes should try to cash in on him in January or next summer as it would be useless for the team to have him on their payroll for doing next to nothing.