MY ACCOUNT
The curtain could finally be about to come down on Kasper Schmeichel’s time at Leicester.
During a glorious decade, the experienced Dane has gone from Championship to Champions League with the Foxes, eventually taking over as the club’s captain.
But there is some uncertainty over what the coming months might hold for Schmeichel as a hunger for more European football could potentially determine the direction of his career.
As Brendan Rodgers’ side prepare for the first leg of their Europa Conference League semi-final with Roma tonight, we focus on the future of their No1.
Continental competition crucial
Ahead of Leicester’s memorable Conference League quarter-final second-leg win over PSV Eindhoven, Schmeichel noted the importance of European football to players and clubs alike.
He said: “If you ask any footballer, at any club, you want to be competing in European football.
“These nights are just different — they provide something different for players and fans. I think it’s really important for every club to experience these evenings.
“These are moments in history we are fighting for every single day to get a chance to compete for.
“I think it is really important a club like this keeps progressing and keeps that hunger and desire to become better all the time on every level, not just a football level.”
The 80-cap international seemed to be speaking from a collective point of view, but if he is “any footballer”, it sounds as though he will want to be playing in Europe next season.
End of an era
If Schmeichel were to leave Leicester, it would represent the end of an era. He is the Foxes’ longest-serving player and has been a near-constant throughout the most successful period in their history.
An ever-present in their unforgettable 2015-16 Premier League title-winning campaign and skipper of the 2021 FA Cup-winning side, Schmeichel will go down as a Leicester legend.
The 35-year-old is so far in credit that if he were to decide he wanted to leave this summer, it is hard to see the club standing in his way.
Moments of magic
During his 11 years with the Foxes, Schmeichel has kept his side in many a contest with some heroic displays of shot-stopping.
In fact, perhaps his finest two saves came last year as he denied Chelsea’s Ben Chilwell and — even more spectacularly — Mason Mount at Wembley to help secure Leicester’s first-ever Cup triumph.
But the Copenhagen native’s obvious quality in that respect does not tell the full story of his goalkeeping ability, with doubts lingering around his all-round game for some time now.
Mounting mistakes
Schmeichel has always been prone to the odd error but they seem to have become more frequent of late.
In Leicester’s 2-1 loss at Newcastle earlier this month, he gifted Bruno Guimaraes the opening goal by bizarrely fumbling a loose ball he should easily have gathered.
And in February, he badly miscontrolled a pass in the box to hand Randers a goal in the Conference League round of 16.
A goals prevented record of -1.5 would also suggest that Schmeichel is conceding slightly more often than he should be compared with the quality of the shots he is facing.
Being realistic
It seems unlikely that Leicester will block any transfer if a bid comes in — but paying a fee for a 35-year-old with a year left on his contract may not make much financial sense to any prospective buyers.
Equally, considering the former Leeds custodian’s decline, his chance for a move to one of European football’s leading lights may have been and gone.
At this stage of his career, it is difficult to see Schmeichel getting a progressive move — but that is not to say that Leicester should be on the lookout for a new No1 ahead of next season.
