Cifuentes wants 'fearless' football from Leicester

Yahoo

3 days ago

New boss Marti Cifuentes says he wants Leicester City playing "fearless" football once more as he tries to return the club to the Premier League at the first attempt.
The 43-year-old Spaniard has spent much of his first week at the helm of the Foxes bunkered down with his players in Austria on their pre-season camp.
The former Queens Park Rangers head coach described it as "intense but useful days" together as he attempts to quickly get the Foxes up to speed with his philosophy and approach to the game with less than three weeks remaining until the Championship season kicks off.
With Leicester winning promotion in 2024 under Enzo Maresca with a high-press and heavy-possession approach, Cifuentes says many of his ideas are already well known at the club.
And it goes beyond that, with Cifuentes quick to play on Leicester's reputation for the swashbuckling way they overcame the odds to win the Premier League title in 2016.
"There is this foundation from some years ago about the way of playing that feeds very well into my ideas," Cifuentes told BBC Radio Leicester from their training base in the town of Stegersbach, Austria.
"There is a talented squad, a lot of quality players that feed well into how I see and understand football.
"I really want them to enjoy how we play to this fearless style that I read a lot about this club.
"I do believe in a certain way of playing football, and we need to be very strong on those areas to build an identity that is aligned with the history of the club."
Listen to the full Cifuentes interview
Ex-QPR boss Cifuentes appointed Leicester manager
'Cifuentes will need a magic wand'
Cifuentes says it is "very clear" that getting to the Premier League "as soon as possible" is the job he has been brought in to do at the King Power Stadium.
But as a manager whose work at youth level and insistence on promoting young talent brought him to the attention of Leicester's hierarchy, the Spaniard has spoken of an eagerness to find a balance of short-term and long-term success.
"I'm aware of the expectations and I think that's the way it should be," he said.
"I'm also very aware that it's not going to be easy, so we need to build a foundation and an identity that can sustain that over time.
"I know how tough sometimes it can be after relegation, but I want to bring them this love of the game that they enjoy."
Cifuentes came in as Ruud van Nistelrooy's replacement, with the Dutchman in charge as Leicester finished third from bottom and 13 points from safety in the Premier League last season.
The drop consigned the 2021 FA Cup winners to a second season in the Championship in three years.
Leicester's previous success of 2024, when they went up as second-tier title winners, is not something that Cifuentes will be "taking for granted" in what he calls "a beast" of a league.
"This team did really well under Enzo and a lot of players that are still here, and obviously that sets a reference point," he said.
"But the reality is that in football every season and every game is different, so we have to approach the season in a very humble way. We cannot expect that it will be a walk in the park and that it will be easy to reach 97 or 100 points."
What points tally Leicester manage under Cifuentes also depends of what comes from the charges the club faces over allegedly breaching the English Football League's financial rules when they won the Championship just over a year ago.
That charge, as well as the club's need to try and balance the books in an effort to avoid profit and sustainability rule breaches, is expected to impact how Cifuentes shapes his squad in the coming weeks.
He would not comment on what business might need to be done during the summer transfer window, but he said he wants to work with a smaller squad and that it would be "trimmed" before the campaign begins.
"What is clear is that I will not speculate much about things that are not 100% clear," Cifuentes said.
"What is sure is that me, the club, with Jon [director or football Jon Rudkin] and the ownership, we have good conversations about possible scenarios and I'm fully aware of the situation."
Latest Leicester news, analysis and fan views