Leicester City fan pundit highlights potential “surprise” James Maddison replacement

Football League World’s Leicester City fan pundit discusses Harry Winks’ pre-season impact.

This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

It has been an eventful summer at Leicester City so far for Enzo Maresca as he prepares his new side for life back in the Championship.

The Foxes endured an incredibly disappointing campaign last season as they were relegated from the Premier League just two seasons after an FA Cup triumph, with Dean Smith unable to save them from the drop after replacing Brendan Rodgers on a short-term contract in April.

Since then, Maresca’s side have been active in the transfer market, bringing in Harry Winks from Tottenham Hotspur, Conor Coady from Wolverhampton Wanderers, Callum Doyle on loan from Manchester City, Mads Hermansen from Brøndby, and Stephy Mavididi from Montpellier.

Daniel Amartey, Ryan Bertrand, Jonny Evans, Nampalys Mendy, Ayoze Perez, Caglar Soyuncu, Youri Tielemans, George Hirst, Harvey Barnes, and James Maddison have all left the club this summer and more departures are to be expected in the next month.

Leicester have further funds to work with, given that Barnes signed for Newcastle United for around £38 million and Maddison joined Tottenham Hotspur earlier in the window for a fee of around £40 million.

However, despite the fact Leicester will continue to add players over the course of the next month, they still have plenty of talented players that will be among the best players in the second tier next season.

Leicester’s pre-season has concluded and they face Coventry City tomorrow in their opening clash at the King Power, in what will be a much-changed side to last season. The play-off finalists will prove to be a stern test for the Foxes on their return to the second tier for the first time in nine years.

Who’s been Leicester City’s surprise package in pre-season?

FLW’s Leicester City fan pundit Alice Wright believes Harry Winks could be a player to offset the loss of the creativity of James Maddison, as he has been impressive during pre-season.

She expects Winks to be a key player under Enzo Maresca, she said: “If we’re talking surprise packages in the sense of new arrivals then I would say over pre-season that’s probably been Harry Winks.

“I mean, we all knew that we were going to have to find a Maddison replacement in midfield, but I don’t think Winks was someone I ever really considered, but so far from watching his pre-season games, I honestly feel really impressed by him.

“He’s definitely been a surprise package during pre-season.”

Could Winks be a key player for Leicester this season?

Winks is a tidy, metronomic ball player, and should be a cut above Championship level.

His pedigree at international level speaks for itself, but Winks is also the sort of player who will thrive under Maresca in a possession-based system.

He’s not a number-ten like Maddison but will get the ball into the final third with regularity next season.

He should be one of the best midfield players in the division, on technical talent and raw ability alone.