Leicester achieved the unthinkable in 2016, becoming just the sixth club to win the Premier League title. A trip to the Champions League quarterfinals continued the dream last season, but their domestic form has struggled since their unbelievable league triumph. Claude Puel has reinvigorated the Foxes side since joining the club in October, but you have the opportunity on FIFA 18 to start the season again and aim higher than mid-table.
Team Rating
Leicester receive a 4 star rating on FIFA 18, due to their 78 overall rating. This consists of 79 attack, 79 midfield and 76 defence ratings.
Formation
Leicester found success with the simplistic 4-4-2 and you can stick with the system or tweak it slightly to a 4-4-1-1. Under Puel, The Foxes have used a 4-2-3-1, with a 4-4-2 diamond another option for you.
Kasper Schmeichel is the undisputed choice in goal, with Danny Simpson, Aleksandar Dragovic, the talented Harry Maguire (POT 84) and Christian Fuchs in the back four.
Skilful Riyad Mahrez (90 dribbling), new signings Adrien Silva and Vicente Iborra as well as the tenacious Marc Albrighton (87 stamina) make up the midfield.
Jamie Vardy (91 sprint speed) can hurt teams with his pace in attack, with Shinji Okazaki playing in the hole behind him.
On the bench, go for Eldin Jakupovic, Robert Huth, Ben Chilwell, Onyinye Ndidi, Daniel Amartey, Demarai Gray and Kelechi Iheanacho.
Tactics
With weapons all over the pitch, you have so many outlets playing as Leicester. It almost goes without saying that you should look to counter-attack with The Foxes, as they perfected that tactic to win the title two seasons ago.
When you have the ball, look to use the speed of Jamie Vardy (91 acceleration) to get in behind the defence.
Riyad Mahrez (92 agility) will beat most defenders, and Adrien Silva (85 vision) can be the man to play the ball into space for the attackers.
Training
Using training in Career Mode provides an excellent opportunity to improve the ability of your players, especially of those who don’t receive regular first team minutes. To get the most out of your weekly sessions, use high growth players, which include Kelechi Iheanacho, Demarai Gray, Onyinye Ndidi, Daniel Amartey, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell at Leicester.
The Transfer Market
Starting transfer budget: £47 million
Starting wage budget: £151,000 a week
Who should go
With a lot of signings last summer, Leicester had a mini clear-out during the January transfer window. This means there are few players left for you to send packing.
In the first team, you are only looking at Yohan Benalouane to sell. The centre back is your fifth-choice, and at the age of 30, it’s the perfect time to cash in on his 75 rating. The Tunisian will collect you around £4 million and save you £46,000 a week in wages.
Ben Hamer is behind Kasper Schmeichel and Eldin Jakupovic in the pecking order for the goalkeeping position, so it makes sense to sell the 29-year-old. With a rating of 68, he will only get you £500,000 in the transfer market, but you will free up £23,000 a week in your wage budget.
As for the less familiar names, Josh Knight, Layton Ndukwu, Darnell Johnson, Liandro Martis, Joshua Debayo, Faiq Bolkiah and Admiral Muskwe all have potentials of 74 or less, so there is no point even trying to nurture them. For all eight of them, you should look to collect a combined sum of just over £1 million, saving on £28,000 a week in wages.
Loans
This thinned out squad means you have few candidates to send out on loan. Right midfielder George Thomas (OVR 64) has the potential to reach 77, so loan him out to a League One club for the season to get some game time.
Who to sign
New transfer budget: £52.5 million
New wage budget: £248,000 a week
Right back
Danny Simpson is the only recognised right back in the Leicester squad, and with him being the weakest member of the starting lineup, it makes your decision of where to sign first easy. The experienced Stephan Lichtsteiner would become the best defender at the club if you signed him, and although he may be 33-years-old, you can't complain for a price of £8 million. For wages of £92,000 you will get the Swiss international’s 82 aggression, 82 stamina and 82 interceptions.
Alternative options:
- Darijo Srna – Shakhtar Donetsk – Age 35, OVR 81, POT 81, Cost: £7 million, Wage: £1,000
- Seamus Coleman – Everton – Age 28, OVR 80, POT 80, Cost: £19 million, Wage: £101,000
- Matteo Darmian – Manchester United, Age 27, OVR 79, POT 79, Cost: £17 million, Wage: £106,000
- Dusan Basta – Lazio, Age 32, OVR 79, POT 79, Cost: £10m, Wage: £48,000
- Igor Smolnikov – Zenit, Age 28, OVR 79, POT 79, Cost: £13m, Wage: £62,000
Left back
After addressing the problem at right back, you should look over to the left side of defence. Christian Fuchs is useful, but at the age of 31 he is perhaps past his peak. Look to replace the 76-rated Austrian with the Italian Domenico Criscito. The Zenit defender has an overall of 81, which will cost £17 million with wages of £59,000 a week. Criscito, 30, has attributes of 90 stamina, 83 short passing and 83 sliding tackle.
Alternative options:
- Leighton Baines – Everton, Age 32, OVR 81, POT 81, Age 32, Cost: £16.7 million, Wage: £97,000
- Nicolas Tagliafico – Independiente, Age 24, OVR 79, POT 84, Cost: £19.4 million, Wage: £20,000
- Luke Shaw – Manchester United, Age 21, OVR 78, POT 83, Cost: £19.5 million, Wage: £67,000
- Marcel Schmelzer – Borussia Dortmund, Age 29, OVR 80, POT 80, Cost: £16.5 million, Wage: £56,000
- Vitaliy Denisov – Lokomotiv Moscow, Age 30, OVR 79, POT 79, Cost: £11.9 million, Wage: £44,000
Contracts
Five players have contracts expiring at Leicester this season, and you should only look renew one of these. Robert Huth may only be on the bench, but at the age of 32 he still has a couple of seasons left in his legs.
As for Ben Hamer, Darnell Johnson, Joshua Debayo and Layton Ndukwu, you should be looking to sell the quartet before their contracts expire in 2018.
Managerial objectives
With Leicester struggling to work out how big the status of the club is, none of their managerial objectives have a high priority. For your domestic success goal, you will be asked to finish in a Euro League (Europa League) spot and reach the FA Cup Round of 16. As for continental success, you must qualify for the Euro League.
Your financial goal, which is also of a medium priority, requires you to finish the season with £17.6 million unspent funds so make sure you save some money from your transfer budget. You will also receive some cash for your Premier League finish at the end of the season.
Youth development is of low importance, and you'll be asked to sign a player from your youth academy and play them in five matches over the season. You will also need to grow a youth player by five overall points and then play them in five matches. If you send your youth scouts out straightway and constantly use these youngsters in training, you should complete this task.
Brand Exposure has no objectives this season.
Do it all over again
If you are looking to recreate Leicester’s incredible league victory on Career Mode, you may be aiming too high. The squad can't compete with the Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool, but a couple of signings for the Foxes would certainly close the gap.
If you start the season strongly, there is no reason why you couldn’t steal fifth-place, with the traditional top six having to contend with European football in their fixture list. Getting into Europe would provide you with a bigger budget and allow you to bring in more lucrative signings.
Leicester squad ratings
Player | Age | Pos | Country | OVR/ POT | Cost | Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goalkeepers | ||||||
Kasper Schmeichel | 30 | GK | Denmark | 83/83 | £27.6m | £58k |
Eldin Jakupovic | 32 | GK | Switzerland | 72/72 | £2m | £27k |
Ben Hamer | 29 | GK | England | 68/68 | £500k | £23k |
Defenders | ||||||
Harry Maguire | 24 | CB | England | 79/84 | £25.2m | £56k |
Aleksandar Dragovic | 26 | CB | Austria | 77/79 | On Loan | £42k |
Robert Huth | 32 | CB | Germany | 77/77 | £5m | £55k |
Wes Morgan | 33 | CB | Jamaica | 77/77 | £5m | £55k |
Danny Simpson | 30 | RB | England | 75/75 | £6m | £46k |
Yohan Benalouane | 30 | CB RB | Tunisia | 75/75 | £5m | £46k |
Ben Chilwell | 20 | LB | England | 72/82 | £68m | £25k |
Sam Hughes | 20 | CB | England | 62/75 | £600k | £7k |
Darnell Johnson | 18 | CB RB | England | 59/74 | £300k | £3k |
Joshua Debayo | 20 | LB | Nigeria | 57/66 | £100k | £5k |
Midfielders | ||||||
Riyad Mahrez | 26 | RM | Algeria | 84/85 | £63.4m | £106k |
Adrien Silva | 28 | CM CDM | Portugal | 83/83 | £42.6m | £81k |
Vicente Iborra | 29 | CDM CM CAM | Spain | 82/82 | £28.4m | £74k |
Onyinye Ndidi | 20 | CDM CM | Nigeria | 78/86 | £24.9m | £42k |
Marc Albrighton | 27 | LM RM | England | 77/77 | £12m | £60k |
Demarai Gray | 21 | LM CAM | England | 75/84 | £19.4m | £39k |
Daniel Amartey | 22 | CDM CM | Ghana | 74/80 | £12m | £39k |
Matty James | 25 | CM | England | 73/74 | £7m | £48k |
Harvey Barnes | 19 | LM CAM | England | 68/83 | £4.3m | £17k |
Hamza Choudhury | 19 | CDM CM | England | 67/77 | £1.5m | £14k |
George Thomas | 20 | RM ST | England | 64/77 | £1m | £11k |
Liandro Martis | 21 | LM | Curacao | 61/69 | £300k | £7k |
Layton Ndukwu | 18 | RM | England | 58/74 | £200k | £4k |
Faiq Bolkiah | 19 | RM LM | Brunei | 55/69 | £150k | £4k |
Attackers | ||||||
Jamie Vardy | 30 | ST | England | 81/81 | £28.4m | £78k |
Shinji Okazaki | 31 | CF CAM ST | Japan | 77/77 | £10m | £65k |
Kelechi Iheanacho | 20 | ST | Nigeria | 75/85 | £20.3m | £44k |
Fousseni Diabate | 21 | ST | Mali | 62/71 | £400k | £8k |
Admiral Muskwe | 19 | ST | Zimbabwe | 59/73 | £250k | £5k |
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