Leicester City

Leicester players were put through their paces as they returned to pre-season training ahead of the new Premier League season.

Leicester start their pre-season fixtures against Notts County on 9 July and face the likes of OH Leuven, Derby County, Preston and Sevilla before the Premier League season begins.

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As the Premier League prepares for its 30th anniversary, we want to know what your favourite Leicester kit is from this era.

You've seen the shirt for the upcoming season, but tell us your pick from the past three decades and which memory stands out?

Have your say here

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Owynn Palmer-Atkin, BBC Radio Leicester

Leicester City have a long and proud history of producing talent from their academy and bringing them through to the biggest stage it can offer. Names like Andy King, Matt Piper and Ben Chilwell roll off the tongue of every Foxes fan.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is the latest in that line - and is a player who has quickly and with relative ease captured the hearts of the Blue Army.

His work rate, tenacity and obvious talent on the ball have moved him from a young player breaking through to one of the first names on the teamsheet. That has been rewarded with a new five-year contract that ties him down on Filbert Way until the summer of 2027.

The long-term nature of this deal is a blatant indication of the football club’s feelings towards KDH, who Brendan Rodgers himself has singled out as future captain material.

Those kind of aspirations will no doubt be in the mind of the young boy who hails from the Leicestershire town of Shepshed.

“I believe I’m going to go up a gear next season,” he told me shortly after picking up the Players' Player and Young Player of the Season at the club’s end of campaign awards night.

“Every day I step on the pitch, I believe I can be the best player. I’ve bedded myself in the Premier League now. I’ve got the experience, I’ve seen what it’s like. Now it’s about really kicking on and pushing on even more to find that extra gear."

They’re the words of a man who, while still relatively young and inexperienced, has the Premier League at his feet - and is desperate to take the club he supported as a boy to the next level too.

“I want to get this team to where it deserves to be," he added. "Next season is the start of that."

There’s no doubting that the box-to-box nature of his game, that includes the most aggressive press seen at King Power Stadium for some time, will allow the Foxes to further develop their midfield offering.

With the question mark still looming over Youri Tielemans’ future at Leicester, Dewsbury-Hall may be the solution to an impending number eight problem.

Leicester City could make a move for Rennes' French midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud, with the 28-year-old likely to cost the Foxes a fee in the region of £8m. (Jeunes Footeux - in French), external

Want more transfer news? Read Friday's full gossip column

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The draw has been made for the group stage of this season's Papa John's Trophy, with teams split into northern and southern groups and 16 Premier League under-21 sides again involved.

In the northern section, Everton have been drawn with Harrogate Town, Hartlepool United and Morecambe, while Leeds face Bolton Wanderers, Crewe Alexandra and Tranmere Rovers.

Leicester will face Bradford City, Burton Albion and Sheffield Wednesday, while Liverpool have been drawn with Accrington Stanley, Rochdale and Salford City.

Barnsley, Doncaster Rovers and Lincoln City make up Newcastle's group, with Manchester City taking on Derby County, Grimsby Town and Mansfield Town.

Manchester United have been drawn with Barrow, Carlisle United and Fleetwood Town, leaving Wolves to face Port Vale, Shrewsbury Town and Stockport County.

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Leicester City agreed a deal for Southampton's chief of scouting and recruitment Martyn Glover in May.

However Glover's contract runs until the end of the summer transfer window and Southampton are keen to avoid handing him over to Leicester until then.

Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester The Athletic's Rob Tanner said: "It is such an important role when you are a club like Leicester competing where they want to compete, on the budgets they have - recruitment has to be spot on.

"They can't afford another summer of disappointment as the blueprint for Leicester is to recruit smartly. Get these players in and develop them and then you are strong and can challenge and try to disrupt the big six as Brendan always says.

"It is such an important role so not having somebody in that position is an issue for them but there are other good people at the club who can step up and do the role in the interim. But it is not ideal. That is why they fought so hard to get Glover in early doors so he can oversee this transfer window."

Listen to the full 13 minute episode of Owynn Palmer-Atkin's show on BBC Radio Leicester here

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Leicester's season opener against Brentford will now take place on Sunday, 8 August, kicking off at 14:00 BST.

The fixture was initially scheduled at King Power Stadium for Saturday, 6 August, but has been rescheduled because of the annual Caribbean Carnival taking place in Leicester that day.

Image source, James Maddison Instagram

Remember the days when football's elite names used pre-season as a chance to put their feet up and indulge, perhaps packing on some timber in the process?

Our modern-day professionals seem to have shunned it fully as in their time off, Leicester City's James Maddison, Fulham's Harrison Reed, Aston Villa's Calum Chambers, and Liverpool duo Jordan Henderson and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been working out as a group at a complex in Portugal.

Maddison has shared snaps of himself whipping free-kicks into the top corner and images of him generally working up a sweat alongside other Premier League names.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is packing plenty into his summer break as his partner Perrie Edwards announced he proposed to her while on holiday over the weekend., external

Image source, James Maddison Instagram

Image source, PA Media

Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers is hoping "to lay down a marker" as he contemplates his side's opening fixtures.

The Foxes face three of last season's top six in the first month which he admits will be "a challenge" but he is relishing an opportunity to have Leicester competing at the top of the Premier League again.

"It's an opportunity for us to put a marker down by showing ourselves and our fans what we are capable of as a team," he told the club's official website., external

"We’ll be looking to build on our journey once again this season, and I know the players will be doing everything they can to make our supporters happy. "

His sentiments are echoed by midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who broke through in outstanding fashion last season.

"Those are the matches you want to play in and I’m so excited to see what this team can do against those teams," said Dewsbury-Hall.

"I'm also looking forward to the opening day and the challenge Brentford will pose. We’ll be fully prepared and will expect a tough game, but I can’t wait to get going again in the Premier League."

Leicester City and Wolverhampton Wanderers are expected to make bids for Burnley's 21-year-old Republic of Ireland defender Nathan Collins, who has also been linked with Leeds United and Newcastle United, this week. (Sun), external

Want more transfer rumours? Read Monday's full gossip column here

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We asked how fans were feeling about Leicester's fixtures for the new season after the schedule was released on Thursday.

Here are some of your thoughts:

Elliot: That first month looks tricky but due to our inconsistency any month or period could be a potential banana skin. Let's hope there is a big investment in players this summer, strength in depth and clearing out of the dead wood and players that fizzled out last season.

David: The manager deserves the chance to get off to a good start. We finished eighth, only one place and four points behind the mighty West Ham, that apparently were the world's greatest team last season.

Andy: The new schedule isn’t bad and will hopefully allow City to establish a beachhead during the first few weeks of the season. The real key, as usual, will be the comings and goings. The manager has spoken of an overhaul and we look sure to lose Tielemans (no bad thing, he was a passenger for most of last season) but keeping Madders and Barnes is key.

The 2022-23 season has been adjusted to accommodate the 2022 World Cup, which takes place in the middle of the domestic calendar.

It starts a week earlier than normal - 75 days after the final day of the 2021-22 campaign - and finishes a week later than usual on 28 May.

Fifa, world football's governing body, has already stipulated that players must be released on 14 November for the World Cup.

It means the mid-season break will last more than six weeks.

There will be 16 matchdays before Qatar - five in August, three in September, six in October and two in November.

Image source, BBC Sport

• This will be the first time Leicester will begin a league campaign against Brentford.

• The Foxes have won their opening Premier League match in their past two seasons, while the Bees have won their first game in four of their six top-flight seasons.

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Ex-England defender Laura Bassett says players need a proper break in order to perform at a high level.

After a busy post-season international schedule, the domestic 2022-23 season starts just 50 days after Premier League fixtures were released on Thursday.

Bassett says recent international performances have shown that players need a longer break.

She told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily: "It’s tough isn’t it? But over recent years it's something players have had to get used to, rightly or wrongly.

"I just think the clubs are so refined in their processes and their research. The amount of staff that they have now, you really have to give the players as much support as possible.

"But sometimes, as a player, it’s the psychological and mental aspect that you just can’t take away - and underestimate and downplay, to be honest.

"We saw from recent games that it’s tough. These players are human - you can’t forget that. You can’t just roll out performances at such a high level and intensity. Players need a break in order to perform."

 Hear more from 18'17 on BBC Sounds

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Obviously Leicester have to play everyone twice - but what's your reaction to the fixture list?

Which period of the season will get a thumbs up from Brendan Rodgers? Is there a month of the campaign you're particularly nervous about? And what do you think of the Christmas schedule?

See Leicester's Premier League fixtures in full here

Have your say here

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Leicester will lock horns with East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest in the Premier League for the first time since May 1999 on 1 October at King Power Stadium.

The return fixture is set for 14 January 2023.

Over Christmas, Brendan Rodgers' side will host Newcastle on Boxing Day, travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on New Year's Eve and take on Fulham at home on 2 January 2023.

West Ham will be their visitors on 28 May 2023 to round off the season.