De Zerbi plays down Dewsbury-Hall talkpublished at 16:13 29 January
16:13 29 January
Image source, Getty Images
Roberto de Zerbi said "it's not my business speaking about other players" when questioned over Brighton's interest in Leicester's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
The Seagulls boss, who has a close relationship with Foxes boss Enzo Maresca, did however praise the midfielder's "great quality".
"I don't know anything about him (personally); I know him as a player," De Zerbi said.
"He has great quality but it's not my business speaking about other players, especially because Enzo Maresca is my friend and I want to be correct with him."
Dewsbury-Hall has played 27 games this season for the current Championship leaders and scored nine goals to date.
Brighton remain interested in Dewsbury-Hallpublished at 13:57 29 January
13:57 29 January
Image source, Getty Images
Simon Stone, BBC Sport
It's transfer deadline day week and we are still waiting for the kind of deal that might trigger a few more.
The Premier League's Profit and Sustainability rules - and the charges that have followed for Nottingham Forest and Everton - seem to have focussed minds amongst club executives, which explains the relative lack of business.
One to keep an eye on is Leicester's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
It is a quirk of the P&S rules that selling your own players, who cost nothing because you brought them through, is a better way of creating space in your accounts to buy players.
Selling Dewsbury-Hall would help Leicester fund Enzo Maresca's demand to strengthen his squad for the second half of the season given one of the reasons the Foxes ended up in trouble last term was because they were too close to breaching P&S for comfort.
Brighton are interested in Dewsbury-Hall but Leicester are yet to fully commit to selling the 25-year-old.
'Stolarczyk deserves a lot of credit but there's still things to work on'published at 11:30 29 January
11:30 29 January
Image source, Getty Images
Leicester City sealed their spot in the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 3-0 win over fellow Championship side Birmingham City. Former Foxes defender Matt Heath has been praising the performance of "excellent" goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk, who kept a clean sheet in the cup tie.
"I thought he was excellent," Heath said on the When You're Smiling podcast.
"It was 14 [Birmingham City] shots to two [Leicester City] shots at half-time. There were one or two shots where you thought Jay Stansfield should've put the ball in the back of the net, especially as he is Birmingham's top goalscorer.
"There were a few half chances where you would expect Stolarczyk to make the saves, but I thought he was excellent. It was his concentration throughout the whole of the first half and then going into the second half as well.
"His ball handling was excellent and his shot stopping was great. Playing out from the back, he took a few risks here and there which we've probably not seen throughout the season with [Mads] Hermansen in goal, so that's something to work on still. He definitely deserves a lot of credit for his performance."
On Foxes boss Enzo Maresca having two talented goalkeepers to choose from this season: "Leicester City like to play with their goalkeeper outside of their penalty area when they've got good possession of the ball. It's an extra man on the pitch really.
"You try and close people down if you've got 11 v 11 and you're maybe keeping one defender back to cover, but adding another player who is comfortable on the ball just creates opportunities to play out from the back. As the game went on, that did happen more and more for Leicester.
"Birmingham had such a high press in the first half but playing out with slower passes meant we were just playing into their hands. Maybe, as the game went on, their energy levels did dip and we were able to find those gaps and penetrate."
'A chance for academy players' - Maresca on FA Cup squad rotationpublished at 15:48 26 January
15:48 26 January
Image source, Getty Images
Enzo Maresca says Leicester City will have to "manage the squad" for their FA Cup fourth-round tie against Birmingham City at King Power Stadium on Saturday.
"We have said many times, it's an important competition [and] hopefully we can go into the next round but in the same moment we have a game on Tuesday [against Swansea City] so we have to manage the squad and the situation," Maresca said.
"It will be a chance for them [young Academy players], it will be a chance for some more second team players, for tomorrow's game, we try to involve players who have less minutes and also second team players. We give them the opportunity."
Club stalwart Jamie Vardy made his return off the bench on Monday against Ipswich after six weeks out through injury and Maresca was pleased to have the 37-year-old available for selection again.
"Jamie is a reference in this club for all the young players because of his history, what he has done in the last 10 years," the Foxes boss said.
"He has been injured for more or less two months, now he is back and hopefully we can use him more."
'The big concern is not scoring more goals' - Howardpublished at 14:58 26 January
14:58 26 January
Image source, Getty Images
Former Leicester City striker Steve Howard thinks conceding late goals is a problem for the Foxes - but says they need to score more goals to secure comfortable victories.
Speaking on the latest episode of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast about Monday's 1-1 draw against Ipswich Town, Howard said: "It was disappointing because you conceded a late goal. If you had been 1-0 down and then you ended the game 1-1, it would have been a different story - but I think to get a 1-1 draw against your closest rivals, you'd take that all day long.
"Watching the Championship this year, Leicester are the best team in the league. Everyone is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but there's one goal at the end - and that's promotion.
"I think they dominate games and are going 1-0 up. The problem is that they don't get the second or third goal because then they could start enjoying themselves. They're conceding goals late on but the big concern is they're not getting the two, three and four consistently enough - and that's why it puts the pressure on and they leak a goal.
"Ultimately you want to get into the Premier League, stay there and do well."
'It's about the next generation of Foxes fans' - fans on ticket issuespublished at 09:05 25 January
09:05 25 January
The key topic of discussion on the latest When You're Smiling podcast is whether more of Leicester City's home tickets will go on general sale, having previously been available for members and season ticket holders only.
Ian Bason from Foxes Trust says there is one key pitfall with the current ticketing system at the King Power Stadium.
"Generally it works OK, but the problem becomes when there are seats still available," he said. "There are actually 19,000 members so the club may think that there are more than enough fans in there to buy the tickets up, but that's not been happening in certain games.
"Our main concern is new fans trying to get in and particularly those with children that want to come to their first game. It is not currently set up to allow fans to go to their first game, to get hooked and become Leicester City fans.
"Those people have the potential to become the future members and season ticket holders.
"It is important because every season at the end of the season some tickets aren't renewed. You have to have a constant feed of potential season ticket holders and memberships."
Foxes Trust recently met with Leicester City to air their concerns, with Bason describing the meeting as "generally positive".
"There seemed to be times when there was a reluctance to understand the points we were making," he explained. "But the result was positive and the proof will be in the pudding in terms of how many other games go on general sale.
"I was particularly keen to push for a Saturday 3pm game to be on general sale. The Swansea game is an 8pm kick-off which is not a great time to bring your child for their first game.
"I am hoping that they will do [one of these] later in the season."
Clubs circle for Coventry's O'Harepublished at 07:35 25 January
07:35 25 January
Coventry City attacking midfielder Callum O'Hare, 25, is out of contract in the summer and being monitored by Southampton, Burnley and Leicester City. (Mail), external
Two games against the second-placed team in the league. Two draws and two games in which we have conceded late on.
A lot of fans are moaning about our performances, but let's just take our royal-blue-tinted spectacles off for a moment.
Ipswich Town are a very good side. They are second in the Championship and have been since gameweek eight. They are there for a reason.
I believe they have gained the most points from losing positions in the league, and they have also lost the fewest games of any team in the league.
Success builds expectations, and we are having a season of great success so far. But we are - with a few exceptions - a young team with a new manager, both to us and to the job at all.
We have won more games than anyone, scored more goals than anyone, conceded fewer goals than anyone. And we are still 24 points ahead of seventh.
Ipswich deserved the two draws - fair play to them - and yes, they will probably be the happier of the two sets of fans.
But to quote a 70s sitcom catchphrase: "Don’t panic, Mr Mainwaring."
When Cesare Casadei sent King Power Stadium wild on his debut, Foxes fans believed big things were coming.
He pounced on the edge of the six-yard box to score the winner late on against Cardiff City and stood in all the glory as the Kop poured over him. Fast forward five months and he's returning to Chelsea after being recalled with less than two weeks to go in the January transfer window.
Casadei never lived up to the promise that first showing gave – with a widespread acknowledgment that this is a very talented player but one who needs consistent game time.
Unfortunately for the Italian, Kieran Dewsbury-Hall and Wilfred Ndidi have shown their Premier League quality in the two number-eight positions in the side this season, which has kept Casadei from starting a run of games.
What this might do for Leicester's transfer window is interesting. With Casadei recalled and Daniel Iversen sent out on loan to Stoke City, it has opened up two spaces in the 25-man squad.
Enzo Maresca has reiterated a number of times that players need to be sold to create funds in order to buy, with a 2m euro deal on the table for Inter Milan midfielder Stefano Sensi.
But with Ndidi out until March, Yunus Akgu still adapting to English football's physicality and Dennis Praet returning from another longer-term injury – the reliance on Dewsbury-Hall might be too much.
Could this move force the Foxes' hand in the transfer market?
Image source, Getty Images
