Timothy Castagne expects Europa Conference League fate to have Leicester City transfer impact

Leicester City need glory in the Europa Conference League to help keep their squad together for next season, full-back Timothy Castagne believes.

City host Roma on Thursday in the first leg of their first-ever European semi-final, with Brendan Rodgers’ side now only three games from silverware. If they are victorious, not only will they get a trophy for their efforts, but also a place in next season’s Europa League, and Castagne thinks it will be key to the club both attracting and retaining players.

With a run of three winless games against bottom-half Premier League sides practically ending their chances of qualifying for Europe through domestic competition, winning the Conference League is now City’s only serious hope of playing on the continent for a third season in a row.

Castagne is playing in his sixth consecutive European campaign following deep runs with Genk and Atalanta, and believes it’s important for the club to be able to offer continental football to players.

“That’s a big thing for us,” the 26-year-old said. “First of all because I think having a season with just the Prem and of course the cups, it’s going to be a bit empty after going through Europe and stuff.

“For the club, the money will be different for them, but that’s not something I should think about. We want to do something again in the Europa League so it would be nice to win the Conference League and go there.

“That’s also a big thing (attracting players) and also to keep players from going, you can say we have Europa League. You don’t need as many players if you don’t have Europa League so you can’t keep the players you want to keep, so it helps in a lot of aspects if you have Europa League.”

One of those who could depart City if they