Has Brendan Rodgers taken Leicester City as far as he can?

Brendan Rodgers has had an impressive career to date. After bringing Swansea up to the Premier League in 2011, the Northern Irish manager was hired by Liverpool in the summer of 2012. Rodgers’ Liverpool side challenged for the league title before ultimately falling short. After departing in 2016, Rodgers spent almost three years at Celtic.

After a successful spell north of the border, Rodgers was hired by Leicester City in February 2019. He replaced Claude Puel in the dugout. He guided the team to a stable ninth-place finish. Rodgers really stamped his authority on the team the following season, as they upset the natural order at the top of the table, finishing fifth while making the FA Cup semi-finals and EFL Cup quarter-finals.

The 2019-20 season also saw Brendan Rodgers rewarded with a new contract, tying him down until 2025. 15 games into the season, Leicester sat second in the table and, although they fell away slightly towards the end, Leicester were seen by many as the team most likely to break into the traditional big six in the coming years.

Success followed the following season, as the 2020-21 season saw Leicester lift the FA Cup. It capped another successful campaign for the Foxes, who once again finished fifth, while also reaching the round of 32 in the Europa League. The FA Cup win felt like a big moment for Leicester, and possibly the springboard for more success. The Foxes were a source of optimism for those looking for afootball bet ahead of the new season.

Leicester kicked off the season with victory in the Community Shield, but that was as good as it got. The Foxes were displaced as the outfit challenging the traditional big six, with West Ham snapping at the heels of the Manchester United to finish seventh. Leicester finished eighth, only three points above 11^th. Leicester’s league campaign felt like a real backwards step, and at no point were Rodgers’ side able to string together more than two wins.

The cups didn’t bring any relief either. Leicester only reached the fourth round of the FA Cup, losing 4-1 to Nottingham Forest. They managed to reach the quarter-finals of the EFL Cup, going out on penalties to Liverpool. In Europe, they finished third in their Europa League group stage, behind Spartak Moscow and Napoli. They found themselves in the Europa Conference League, and managed to reach the semi-finals stage of that, losing 2-1 on aggregate to Roma.

Leicester’s season was far from disastrous. However, given the progress that Rodgers’ team made in the preceding years, it’s hard not to view Leicester’s most recent campaign as a loss of momentum. While nobody should be calling for Rodgers’ head off the back of the 2021-22 season, it’s fair to say that his project has lost its way a little.

It’s a big summer for Rodgers, and the hierarchy at Leicester. The club have a well-earned reputation as smart recruiters and strong decision makers, and they’ll need to lean into that this summer. It feels like the Midlands outfit are in need of a refresh, and a few smart acquisitions may be the most likely way of doing that. If they don’t manage that, then Rodgers will need to get more from this squad than he managed last season, if he’s going to continue progressing at Leicester.