Football: Which clubs could ‘do a Leicester’ in Europe’s top five leagues?

This time a year ago Leicester City were in the unusual position of being second in the Premier League after winning their first two matches of the season. The Foxes had left it late to escape relegation in the previous campaign, winning seven of their last nine fixtures, and were clearly in a rush to reach the hallowed 40-point mark. What happened next defied all logic and expectation.

Despite a surprise defeat to Hull City on the opening day of the new season, Leicester’s bubble is still yet to burst. Riyad Mahrez has followed Jamie Vardy in spurning supposed interest from Arsenal to sign a new contract, while it is only a week until the draw for the Champions League group stage. There is plenty for Claudio Ranieri’s side to look forward to as they fight to defend their Premier League crown and enjoy a first adventure at the highest level of European competition.

There will be clubs around the Continent eyeing the Foxes’ success with envy - and hoping to perform their own miracle as August’s heady optimism takes hold. So who stands a chance of emulating Leicester’s heroics in Europe’s top five leagues? It will take something special to replicate a five-thousand-to-one shot, but that won’t stop the following teams from trying…

Premier League

A quick glance at last season’s final standings puts Leicester’s achievements into perspective. Finishing in 14th place - the Foxes’ position in May 2015 - were West Brom on 43 points with a goal difference of minus 14. Tony Pulis’s side made a promising start last Saturday with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace, but even with Salomon Rondon finding form - which has seen the striker somewhat bizarrely linked to Barcelona - it’s impossible to think the Baggies will be anywhere near the top four in nine months’ time.

The top six places appear set in stone given the regime changes and significant investment by the division’s heavyweights. Leicester will again be looking to challenge, of course, while Everton and West Ham should be encouraged by their rival’s incredible feats in 2015/16.

With two experienced managers in Ronald Koeman and Slaven Bilic, both clubs can aim to upset the established order. A debut injury to new signing Andre Ayew is a blow to Bilic’s plans but after finishing seventh last year - only four points from fourth - and retaining Dimitri Payet, the Hammers have Champions League football in their sights. The same can be said for Everton if they hold on to Romelu Lukaku and maintain the intensity at which they played in the first half of Saturday’s draw against Tottenham.

Bundesliga

After Bayern Munich won the Bundesliga by 25 points in 2012/13 and 19 points in 2013/14, the last two years - which have seen the Bavarians claim the title with a ten-point cushion - at least suggest a semblance of competition has been restored.

Borussia Dortmund may have lost Mats Hummels to their rivals this summer, and seen Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Gundogan move to the Premier League, but they have acted decisively to find convincing replacements. Mario Gotze’s return - along with the arrivals of Andre Schurrle, Marc Bartra, Euro 2016 champion Raphael Guerreiro and top prospects Ousmane Dembele and Emre Mor - will give Thomas Tuchel hope of putting Carlo Ancelotti under pressure, despite Bayern’s 2-0 win in the German Super Cup last week.

But if we’re looking for a team who can emulate Leicester’s year-on-year improvement, Hoffenheim are the best pick. With the club mired in a relegation battle last season, Julian Nagelsmann’s appointment, which had been pre-arranged for the summer, was brought forward to February in a final throw of the dice. The 29-year-old coach picked up 23 points from his first 14 matches, including wins over Wolfsburg and 2015/16 surprise package Hertha Berlin, to belatedly secure survival.

With that invaluable experience under his belt, and some shrewd acquisitions over the summer - namely Andrej Kramarić, who scored five goals on loan from Leicester last year, Lukas Rupp, poached from relegated Stuttgart, and Sandro Wagner, who impressed with 14 strikes for top-flight minnows Darmstadt - Nagelsmann has his sights set firmly on a top-half position, possibly even more.

If he can get his attack firing, which also features mercurial talent Eduardo Vargas, and work on a defence that conceded the highest number of shots per game in the division last season, the Bundesliga’s youngest-ever manager will stand a good chance of making an even bigger name for himself.

Serie A

For Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, read Juventus in Serie A. Max Allegri’s side gave their rivals a head start last season - losing four of their first 10 matches to sit in 11th place at the end of October - before winning 26 of their remaining 28 fixtures to claim a fifth successive Scudetto. Even the loss of Paul Pogba for a world record fee is unlikely to cause too much disruption to a squad boosted by the arrivals of Miralem Pjanić, Gonzalo Higuaín, and Dani Alves.

It is Juventus’ Turin rivals Torino, however, who will be aiming to perform their own version of Leicester’s miracle wearing what is surely the sharpest kit in Serie A this season. After being thrashed 4-1 at home to their city neighbours in March, Torino eventually finished 12th - 16 points behind tiny Sassuolo, who remarkably claimed Italy’s final Europa League place ahead of AC Milan.

Milan sacked Siniša Mihajlović in April and, now with a point to prove, the former Lazio and Inter Milan defender has taken charge of Torino for the new season. There were some bright spots to the coach’s spell at the San Siro - notably a 3-0 derby win over Inter in January - and with a clutch of new signings including the talented Adem Ljajic and Iago Falque, plus Andrea Belotti’s breakthrough last term, Mihajlović will be looking to quickly right the wrongs of his Milan reign.

In an enticing twist of fate, Torino kick off their Serie A campaign away to his former club on Sunday.

Ligue 1

In a league where even Lyon winning the title could now reasonably be seen as 'doing a Leicester', it is hugely unlikely to see anyone topple PSG under new manager Unai Emery. But that won’t deter the division’s lesser weights from trying to secure one of the other two available Champions League places.

Lyon and Monaco are almost certain to hang on to PSG’s coat-tails once more, especially with Alexandre Lacazette pledging his future to Lyon and Radamel Falcao looking sharp in pre-season at Monaco. The striker scored three goals in friendlies against Sporting Lisbon and Zenit St. Petersburg, and another two in the Champions League qualifying double-header against Fenerbahce before suffering a hamstring injury.

Behind Lyon and Monaco, Bordeaux  - Ligue 1 champions as recently as 2009 - are arguably the best of the rest. It was to France that Leicester looked ahead of the 2015/16 campaign when they recruited N’Golo Kante from Caen, and Bordeaux manager Jocelyn Gourvennec will hope a similar talent emerges from his young squad this season. The former Guingamp boss, who added the Coupe de France to his CV in 2014, has recruited the experienced Jeremy Menez and Jeremy Toulalan to strengthen his first XI.

There is plenty of youth in Bordeaux’s ranks, with nine players aged 23 or under featuring in the opening day victory over Saint-Etienne and three - Diego Rolan, Gaetan Laborde and Brazilian winger Malcolm getting on the score sheet - and Gourvennec will be looking to Menez and Toulalan to lead by example. If Uruguayan striker Rolan can improve on last year’s tally of seven goals and four assists, there may even be an outside chance of snatching third place.

La Liga

There has only been one winner outside the traditional top two in the past 12 seasons in La Liga - Atletico Madrid in 2013/14 - and, considering Real Madrid have won the title just three times over that period, it’s clear who are the team to beat.

Barcelona look imperious once again this summer, dismantling Sevilla 5-0 in the Spanish Super Cup to dampen expectations around former Chile manager Jorge Sampaoli’s reign at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.

New signings Samuel Umtiti, Lucas Digne, Denis Suarez and Andre Gomes all featured in Wednesday’s second leg victory, but it was the performance of a reinvigorated Arda Turan, scoring two goals, that stole the headlines. The 29-year-old endured a difficult first season at Camp Nou - only being allowed to make his debut in January when the club’s transfer ban was lifted - but after an impressive pre-season it seems he is finally ready to make an impact.

Across the city, poor cousins Espanyol are perhaps the team primed more than any other to make a Leicester-esque leap for European football. A 56 per cent stake in the club was sold to Chinese model car maker Rastar Group in January, and there has been money to spend under the new regime. Quique Sánchez Flores was appointed manager in June after leaving Watford and immediately signed José Antonio Reyes, whom he coached at Benfica and Atletico Madrid.

José Manuel Jurado, another favourite, has also followed Flores from Watford while Leo Baptistão, recruited from Atletico Madrid, will be looking to reignite his early promise. Martin Demichelis adds experience in defence, while new midfield signing Javi Fuego’s name literally means ‘fire’ - your move, Will Grigg.

With Pablo Piatti, who joins Fuego in making the move from Valencia, and goalkeeper Ricardo completing Flores’ additions, Espanyol should expect to significantly improve on a 13th place finish last season which saw them possess the worst defensive record in the league.

It will take more than Demichelis to fix that problem, of course - which is why there have been efforts to bring David Lopez back from Napoli - but if a 2-2 draw with Juventus in a recent friendly is anything to go by, Espanyol will be a much more competitive outfit this season.