It has been a fascinating beginning to the Marti Cifuentes reign at Leicester City, with the Foxes not exactly displaying their sharpest form in recent outings.
The Blues carried out a host of alterations to their squad and in the dugout during the summer while the threat of a possible points deduction for alleged PSR breaches looms over the club.
In recent years, the label of being highly astute in the transfer market has long since faded for the East Midlands outfit, with the bulk of business falling into the ‘miss’ column rather than ‘hit’.
That was certainly evident last season as the club were relegated back to the Championship with a whimper under Steve Cooper and the largely unpopular Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Cifuentes, who built a reputation as a safe pair of hands during an 18-month spell at the helm of Queens Park Rangers, has since stepped in and provided much of the same for Leicester, although it’s fair to say the Spaniard is still demanding more from the pool of players that remain at the King Power Stadium after four consecutive stalemates against Oxford United, Coventry City, West Bromwich Albion and Wrexham.
With the summer transfer window shutting at the start of last month, it has allowed the 43-year-old to begin shaping a more consistent side after constant speculation over potential arrivals and major deadlines right up to the cut-off.
As one of the three recently relegated clubs, albeit still under a shadow of doubt, the financial backing available at the King Power remains far greater than most Championship rivals.
However, that can also bring drawbacks, with one midfielder’s current situation underlining exactly why.
Oliver Skipp is hardly validating £50,000 per week salary at Leicester City:
Oliver Skipp had once been tipped as one of this nation’s most promising midfield prospects after coming through the Tottenham Hotspur academy, eventually going on to make 106 appearances for the North London side, as well as playing a key role in Norwich City’s second-tier title-winning campaign in 2020/21 while on loan at Carrow Road.
It was revealed in 2023 that the central midfielder was poised to become part of the senior leadership team under Ange Postecoglou. However, less than a year later, the ex-Under-21 international switched to Leicester for an initial £20m plus a possible £5m in bonuses as the Foxes sought to re-establish themselves among the elite.
Since then, his spell at the King Power could hardly have been more frustrating, with only 10 of his 24 league appearances coming from the starting XI under both Cooper and Van Nistelrooy, while also being an unused substitute on an even-greater 11 occasions.
Despite those setbacks, Skipp was handed a fresh start with the arrival of Cifuentes, who included him in the opening match of the campaign against Sheffield Wednesday, before starting him in three of the following four fixtures against Charlton Athletic, Birmingham City and Oxford United.
Skipp was particularly effective against Birmingham, hardly giving the dependable duo of Seung-Ho Paik and Tomoki Iwata any space on the ball, as well as disrupting play and moving it forward to the likes of Louis Page, Abdul Fatawu and Stephy Mavididi frequently.
However, it must be pointed out that since that 2-0 triumph on August 29th, Skipp has broadly struggled to justify the sizeable outlay and his ESTIMATED wage of £50,000 – a base figure which could extend until the summer of 2029.
Oliver Skipp will aim to prove Marti Cifuentes wrong amid strong midfield rivalry:
Despite drawing against West Brom and Wrexham, it should be said that for large portions of both matches, particularly in the first half, Cifuentes’ team had been in command thanks to the midfield pairing of Harry Winks alongside either Boubakary Soumare or Jordan James.
Skipp’s former Spurs teammate is, without question, one of the best in the league when it comes to technical quality, while his tenacity has also been crucial on many occasions.
Meanwhile, the Spaniard lavished praise on the Rennes loanee, not only for his goal which finished off a fine 13-pass sequence, but also for his complete performance against the Red Dragons.
“He can play a little bit on the base, a little bit on the pocket, but he’s got this energy, this capacity to get in the second line, and hopefully that’s the first of many,” Cifuentes said of James.
Therefore, with Leicester losing their grip on the game and later conceding a Nathan Broadhead equaliser 13 minutes from time, Skipp didn’t exactly enhance his chances of reclaiming a starting spot for Saturday’s trip to Swansea.
Of course, with it being a gruelling campaign in which three-game weeks are common, Cifuentes cannot completely disregard the attributes Skipp can bring when confident. However, it’s difficult to argue the transfer is looking like a major misjudgment with each passing week when considering the finances involved and his limited recent minutes.