Why Leicester City may need to offload 14 players as part of transfer revamp

A significant number of exits are expected at Leicester City over the next two months as the club look to whittle down a group of 33 to fit their 25-man Premier League squad.

While only a portion of City’s senior squad are back in training at Seagrave at the moment, with the international players to arrive at a later date, manager Brendan Rodgers knows he has far too many to work with ahead of the new campaign, especially with the club still hoping to bring in new recruits.

City were one of only five clubs to fill every spot in their 25-man Premier League squad last season, and while Eldin Jakupovic’s departure vacated a slot, Wesley Fofana now requires one, as he no longer qualifies for the Under-21 list. In total, City have 33 professionals on their books who were born before January 1, 2001, and so would require registration if they are to play in the Premier League in the upcoming season.

Many of those swelling the number are just back from loan spells in the EFL, and they have the most work to do to convince Rodgers they deserve one of the highly-coveted spots. Otherwise, another loan, or potentially a permanent exit, beckons.

While City need to cut eight players from the current group just to get down to 25, they will need to let others go too, given their plans for a “healthy shake-up” of the squad. Rodgers wants to bring in five or six new faces as part of his revamp, and so, altogether, that could mean 14 of the current group departing.

If players remain at the club, but are not registered, then they will be restricted to Carabao Cup fixtures, and Premier League 2 games as one of the permitted over-age players. This was the case for Papy Mendy in the first half of last season.

Before the summer break, Rodgers