Why the only person at Leicester City under as much pressure as Paulo Sousa has the chance to fire this club into the Premier League...
Football is a fickle sport. Most of the time, you’re only as good as your last game. It’s also true that following a successful season, anything less than that the year after often seems disappointing.
Now, it’s difficult to criticise the season that Leicester City had last year. Finishing fifth in the Championship and narrowly missing out on a play-off final appearance was an outstanding achievement that exceeded most people’s expectations, bearing in mind this team was in League One the year before. But one thing that seemed to be lacking was a prolific goal scorer; someone who could get you twenty goals or more in a season.
Enter DJ Campbell?
First of all, I do not doubt any of the strikers at Leicester City. Matty Fryatt was unstoppable in League One, but unfortunately missed around three months of last season after suffering a broken jaw against Doncaster Rovers in February. Steve Howard is constantly a huge presence who can change the face of any game - as was demonstrated in the play-off semi-final second leg at Cardiff City. Paul Gallagher is arguably the most skillful and talented attacking player at Leicester City, although he was played out of position most of last year and looks likely to adopt an attacking midfielder role this season. And, unfortunately, Sunderland were unwilling to sell or loan Martyn Waghorn after a terrific year with the Foxes, which led to him being voted Leicester City’s Young Player of the Year
Secondly, please don’t count this as me jumping on the bandwagon. Like many Leicester fans, I remember the three dismal years Campbell spent with this club. Four goals in 38 games is a terrible scoring record for any striker. I also remember Campbell begging Leicester not to obstruct a “dream move” to Blackpool – the side he helped to gain promotion to the top flight of English football, scoring eleven goals in eighteen games during his time at Bloomfield Road, including a hat-trick against Nottingham Forest in the play-offs.
When talks between Leicester and Blackpool over Campbell broke down due to financial disagreements, there were still strong rumours circulating regarding his future, and that other clubs had shown interest in him – most likely to the delight of Leicester fans. But when Nigel Pearson left the club, with Paulo Sousa being appointed, it became apparent that Campbell may well be staying put.
Sousa still had the option to consider a transfer, but instead he has given DJ an opportunity for a fresh start. While it might be difficult to get too excited about something like that, it’s clear to see that Campbell has certainly impressed the new manager. Four goals in four games in preseason – albeit against, for the most part, lesser opponents - speaks for itself.
All of a sudden, there’s an air of excitement regarding DJ Campbell, and the prospect of what he can do to help Leicester City. Whilst this is perhaps overoptimistic right now, it’s very easy to see why people are now anticipating the opening day of the season more than ever. To some extent, it feels as if Campbell is a new signing. And with the support Paulo Sousa, there’s a chance he could feature in the starting eleven on August 7 against Crystal Palace – a wildly different scenario than last season when Campbell rarely even made it to the substitutes’ bench.
The unfortunate situation is, however, that if DJ Campbell is to remain at Leicester, then he will be under just as much pressure as Paulo Sousa this season – perhaps even more so. He has the huge challenge of winning back the fans of a club he effectively turned his back on when he voiced his desire to move on. The only way he can do that is by scoring the goals that will guide Leicester City towards another promotion push. An extra twenty goals next season might be the difference between a mid-table finish and a play-off spot – or between a play-off spot and automatic promotion.
There is still more than enough talent in this Leicester side to achieve above and beyond last season’s accomplishments. But if DJ Campbell leads this side to glory, it’ll be one of the biggest turnarounds this club has ever seen.
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