Ruud van Nistelrooy names what Leicester City's new signings must have
Leicester City must sign players with the physicality to cope in the Premier League – but experience of the top flight is not necessary, manager Ruud van Nistelrooy has said.
Adding players with Premier League know-how was a big factor in the summer recruitment under Steve Cooper. Five of the eight first-team arrivals – Bobby De Cordova-Reid, Facundo Buonanotte, Jordan Ayew, Oliver Skipp, and Odsonne Edouard – came from City’s Premier League rivals.
It’s not something they typically do. To find the last five signings they made from Premier League clubs while they were one themselves, you have to go back to 2018, during which time they brought in Danny Ward, Ryan Bennett, Ayoze Perez, Ryan Bertrand, and Jannik Vestergaard.
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But signing players with Premier League appearances under their belts does not seem like a priority for van Nistelrooy, although the manager does believe there are certain attributes needed to thrive in England. Having played in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, as well as the Premier League, he’s in a good position to judge.
“When you look at potential targets, you look at the complete package,” van Nistelrooy said when asked if Premier League experience was something he considered to be important in a prospective signing. “It starts with looking in a pool of players, what the possibilities are financially, and in the end you make a decision on all the variables in a player and what is the best for the club and the future of the club.
“It can be a benefit, but we’ve seen it many times before that players can be of great success in the Premier League without having any Premier League success. I experienced the same.
“For sure (there are attributes needed to play in the Premier League). The physicality of this league and the intensity of this league is not for every player. So the profile of the player, their physical profile and their mentality, is highly important to be able to survive in this league.”
The man set to be City’s first signing of the window, Parma right-back Woyo Coulibaly, has never played in England before. In fact, the 25-year-old has very little top-flight experience, having spent most of his career so far in Ligue 2 and Serie B.
