Leicester City’s Two Transfer Failures Prompt Steve Cooper to Seek a Sensible Balance

Possibly influenced by the two signings that Leicester City almost secured, Steve Cooper has been cautious about expressing confidence in completing transfers before the deadline.

At the top of the club’s priority list are attacking players. Cooper believed he had two such players arriving last week, including Czech forward Adam Hlozek.

However, these deals fell through, with Hoffenheim swooping in to secure Hlozek from City’s grasp.

“I was close to being convinced we were adding two attacking players, and then they didn’t play out as we thought right at the end,” Cooper said during his press conference on Thursday.

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault; it was just how things happened.”

This experience might explain why Cooper stated, “We’re close (to transfers), but we’ve been closer than we feel today,” even as an agreement was being finalized for Jordan Ayew, with the Ghanaian forward heading to Seagrave for a medical.

Cooper remains cautious and doesn’t want to assume anything until the deals are done.

Indeed, Leicester City have experienced this kind of situation before.

In recent years, players like Jack Harrison, James McAtee, and Stefano Sensi arrived at the training ground, seemingly set to join, only for the deals to collapse at the last moment. It’s a familiar scenario.

With just a week remaining until the transfer deadline, Cooper has hinted that he might not secure all his desired signings.

He acknowledged the need for balance in such a situation.

He explained, “Not every area we’d like to strengthen might be addressed in this window.

We’re really keen to finalize deals, but if it doesn’t happen, we have maximum faith in the players we have.

That’s crucial. I believe we will add players, but if not, we’ll continue with our current squad and commit to achieving our goals.”

Cooper faces a challenge: to bridge the gap between the Championship and the Premier League, new signings are necessary.

At the same time, to maintain squad morale, he needs to show confidence in the players who believe they deserve their shot in the Premier League after helping secure promotion.

There is a balance to strike when building the squad and discussing its potential.

As the deadline approaches, Cooper is carefully navigating this balance, ensuring he doesn’t alienate his current players while subtly signaling to the club’s hierarchy that he would welcome additional reinforcements.