Craig Shakespeare is re-establishing Leicester City's formerly renowned recruitment with impressive transfer window

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Craig Shakespeare has made some smart additions so far this summer

This summer transfer window has been Craig Shakespeare's first as a manager, and so far the Leicester City boss is showing he is more than adept. Thus far, Shakespeare has secured the signings of centre-back Harry Maguire, goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic and centre-defensive midfielder Vicente Iborra.

Despite doubts, Shakespeare is attracting players to the club

Following Claudio Ranieri's sacking in February of last season, Shakespeare took over and revived the Foxes, securing an eventual 12th place finish. As such, Shakespeare was appointed as permanent manager on 8th June on a three-year contract.

However, upon his appointment, doubts were cast as to whether the 53-year-old was a big enough name to attract the calibre of players the club were hoping for, to progress in the Premier League. This summer is seen as a significant one for Leicester, as in the summer of 2016 following the club's title win, the players recruited have not been able to push the club forward.

It is reported record signing Islam Slimani, Ahmed Musa and Nampalys Mendy could all move on from the King Power Stadium this summer. The likes of Ron-Robert Zieler, Luis Hernandez (January) and Bartosz Kapustka (loan) have already found new clubs.

Having failed to seize an opportunity to push on last summer, and just about scraping by in the 2016/17 campaign, this summer had to be better for the club. Last season, the then defending Premier League champions did sometimes struggle with strength in depth, not necessarily because the players brought in were not good enough, but because they were not fitting into Ranieri's style of play.

The first addition of the summer, centre-back Harry Maguire from Hull City, talked to LCFC TV about the impact Shakespeare had in his signature: "There were a number of clubs interested, but when I met the manager here, he pretty much swayed it into the direction of this club. He showed me the way that the Club is going. It’s on the up."

Alongside the latest signing of goalkeeper Jakupovic, Shakespeare has also managed to convince three time Europa League winner Vicente Iborra, to move to the East Midlands from Spanish club Sevilla. Shakespeare is clearly showing that despite doubts, he is attracting players of high calibre.

Influence of Nigel Pearson and a well-structured recruitment set-up

Nigel Pearson laid the foundations at Leicester City

Nigel Pearson is somewhat known as a cult figure at Leicester City, having masterminded a rebuild that took the club from its lowest point of League One football in 2008, to top flight glory in 2016.

Although Pearson was not the manager in Leicester's 2015/16 title win, the foundations he laid down over a number of years, have been instrumental to the club's success even to this day. Players such as Danny Simpson, Marc Albrighton, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy are all familiar faces in the Leicester first team, all signed by Nigel Pearson.

In his time at the King Power Stadium, Pearson became known for boasting a high-quality recruitment set-up, signing players who were largely bringing success. Signings made under Pearson were always thoroughly well thought out, players who the manager wanted for his team would often be tracked and scouted for a few years before signing for the club.

Japanese international striker Shinji Okazaki and now Hoffenheim forward Andrej Kramaric were key examples of this. Club record signing Islam Slimani was also tracked for some time before finally putting pen to paper.

Steve Walsh, the now Director of Football at Everton, was a fundamental figure like Shakespeare, in Pearson's backroom staff and recruitment of players. They worked closely as a team in recruitment matters. Walsh's rise to prominence came for his influence in the signings of N'Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez, Shakespeare also being a part of the recruitment of these two players at the time.

Pearson, in seven years on and off, achieved two titles at the club, League One in 2008/09 and the Championship in 2013/14. The ever-present figure in the midst of those seven hectic years, was, of course, Pearson's right-hand man Craig Shakespeare.

His spell from 2008 to 2015 was always accompanied by assistant boss Shakespeare, even when Pearson left Leicester for Hull City in 2010.

Present: Shakespeare is re-establishing the Leicester recruitment of old

Shakespeare will have a task on his hand to keep the likes of Mahrez at Leicester this season

Now, although Shakespeare does not have Walsh to work with anymore, those years of working in a top notch recruitment set-up, means the Leicester boss now knows what it takes to bring in worthwhile signings. Shakespeare is clear about his targets, signings are being made with thorough scouting and analysed how and why they'd fit into his squad. Thus paralleling to Nigel Pearson's recruitment policy.

In a recent interview published in The Telegraph, Shakespeare spoke about his recruitment team, “The recruitment department have been doing great work. We have a comprehensive scouting network, a lot of good work behind the scenes."

The former West Brom coach admitted in the same interview the club isn't afraid to break their transfer record once again this summer, when asked about this: “There could be (a chance). You look at the players out there, the Premier League is the place to play. It gets harder every year. You saw how many teams reinvested and fortunes spent on transfers. It still shows where the league table is now."

Craig Shakespeare is close to securing his 4th signing of the summer, with Manchester City forward Kelechi Iheanacho reportedly very close to signing for the club and the club looks to be in a better position. The hype and the pressure are gone and even if another challenge on the Premier League crown might be a far-fetched dream - they have themselves proved to us, "never say 'never' again".

Also read: 6 Premier League dark horses who will challenge for the top six next season

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