Brendan Rodgers Named Leicester City Manager; New Contract Runs Through 2022
Leicester City have appointed Brendan Rodgers as their new manager. The Northern Irishman officially joined the Premier League side on Tuesday:
Rodgers, who left his post at Celtic, has signed until June 2022, according to Sky Sports. He has replaced Frenchman Claude Puel, who was shown the door following Saturday's 4-1 defeat to Crystal Palace at the King Power Stadium.
Speaking to LCFC TV (h/t the club's official website), Rodgers saluted the "huge potential" in a "young" and "very dynamic" squad.
He also spoke about his reasons for leaving Scotland: "We were on a journey of great success over these last years but when the opportunity came to talk to Leicester and I was able to analyse it, it allowed me to think that I’d probably achieved and taken the club maybe at Celtic as far as I could at this moment."
However, not everybody is impressed by the timing of Rodgers' return to England's top flight:
Even so, BT Sport host and former Foxes striker Gary Lineker has heralded the new man's arrival:
Rodgers takes charge with the team 12th in the table, eight points clear of the relegation zone and as many off seventh place.
The 46-year-old has left Celtic in his third season, having won the domestic treble in each of his first two campaigns in Glasgow.
With Celtic eight points clear in the Scottish Premiership and through to the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup, they could win a treble again this season.
Football writers Kieran Canning and Sid Lowe are puzzled by his decision to leave them at this stage, but football commentator Ian Stringer believes it's a good sign for the Foxes:
Rodgers has prior Premier League experience with Swansea City—whom he guided to an 11th-place finish in 2011-12 after achieving promotion with them the season before—and Liverpool.
He spent three full seasons with the Reds and almost guided them to the title in his second campaign, only for them to fall short despite taking a five-point lead into the final three matches.
Sports writers Daniel Storey and Daniel Harris feel he could be a good appointment for Leicester:
There's plenty to work with at the King Power, particularly in terms of young talent.
Wilfred Ndidi, James Maddison, Ben Chilwell, Kelechi Iheanacho and Demarai Gray are all 22, while Harvey Barnes, Hamza Choudhury and loan signing Youri Tielemans are 21, so there's potential to mould them into an excellent team.
Despite their incredible title victory in 2016, breaking into the Premier League's top six will be difficult for Leicester.
However, given their talent and resources, they should at least be among the clubs with ambitions to do so in the seasons to come, and they'll hope Rodgers can deliver that.
