Having finished in 10th place last season, Leicester City will be eager to turn the tide ahead of the 2025/26 WSL campaign.
As the dawn breaks on a new Women’s Super League campaign, Leicester City will be looking to find some form in 2025/26.
Truthfully speaking, many fans, journalists and pundits have picked the Foxes to be among the favourites for relegation to the WSL 2. Last Wednesday night with just 10 days until Leicester City’s first WSL fixture, Amandine Miguel was sacked as head coach. A move that stunned the women’s football world with former Notts County head coach Rick Passmore placed in interim charge.
The Halfway Line previews what to expect ahead of Leicester City’s upcoming WSL campaign now without last season’s head coach.
How Leicester City finished the previous WSL season
Leicester have dealt with injuries to some key players last season, especially in attack. Jutta Rantala, who could rightly be called Leicester’s key attacker, missed the large part of the Foxes’ season with a knee injury. They have also missed Noémie Mouchon, Ruby Mace, Shannon O’Brien, Lena Petermann for large parts of the season, among others.
Those injuries make the decision to let Amandine Miguel go after just one full, injury hit season in charge, feel particularly harsh. The Foxes fought relegation for large parts of the season, but a 3-2 victory over Brighton in March was a huge step towards safety. A further point, a week later, against fellow relegation candidate Spurs helped the side massively. The Foxes were safe with two matches left to play after bottom side Crystal Palace lost a brutal 7-1 to West Ham United.
Leicester’s absences in attack meant that they scored just 21 goals, the second lowest in the league, after relegated Crystal Palace’s 20 goals. They became 10th on goal difference, having just a 2 goal advantage over 11th placed Spurs. One of the highlights of the Foxes’ season was a 1-1 draw with Chelsea, in December.
Outside the WSL, Amandine Miquel’s team didn’t do too well either. They exited the Subway Women’s League cup in the group stage and went out in the fifth round of the Women’s FA Cup after a 3-1 loss to Manchester City.
Transfer market moves this window
Leicester have had lots of outgoings and not as many incoming players. Lena Petermann, Deanne Rose, Courtney Nevin, Yuka Momiki, CJ Bott, Sophie Howard and Saori Takarada all left the East Midlands side. To counter the eight players leaving, only three have come in, in Katie Keane, Heather Payne and Celeste Boureille. All this business over the summer makes the decision to fire Miguel at this juncture all the more curious.
Katie Keane is a 19-year-old goalkeeper who transferred from Irish side Shamrock Rovers. She was Shelbourne’s youngest ever league debutant at just 16 years old, before moving to Athlone Town. She there became their first choice goalkeeper and earned herself a move to Shamrock Rovers just last January. She now looks to continue her fast moving career at Leicester City, but has fellow shot stoppers Janina Leitzig and Olivia Clark ahead of her.
Heather Payne is another Irish international making the move to Leicester City. She arrives at the side from Everton, so already has WSL experience. She also has over 50 Ireland caps to her name. Payne is a versatile player but will join the side as a right back, according to Leicester’s press release.
Defensive midfielder Celeste Boureille is not French, as her name suggests, but American. She joined Leicester City from French side Montpellier. She signed just a one year deal with the Foxes, so it will be interesting to see what the long term vision for the defensive midfield position is in Leicester.
Amandine Miquel spoke to BBC Sport at the start of August, saying they were looking after some defenders to bolster their squad, after key defenders in Sophie Howard and CJ Bott left the club. Whether that remains a priority without Miquel remains to be seen.
With Ruby Mace’s departure confirmed whoever takes over at Leicester City will need to be looking at midfielders too. And while Leicester’s website lists a whopping 8 forwards, it begs the question as to whether the quality of some of these players is high enough to truly compete in the WSL.
Key players for Leicester City
Now back from her long term injury and fresh off signing a new deal with the Foxes, Jutta Rantala will look to make her mark on the next season. An excellent dribbler on the right hand side of the attack, Rantala not only is a good assister but also likes to shoot (and score!). In 2023/2024, she found the net six times and assisted five goals for her team mates. It is her contributions the Foxes have missed so much last season, when she was out.
Sam Tierney is one of Leicester’s longest serving players, having been with the side when they earned promotion to the WSL. Tierney is a versatile player, having played at centre back, as a holding midfielder and is now the team’s go-to driver of attacks in the midfield. It’s hard to imagine a Leicester side without her.
Back in goal, Janina Leitzig is the brick wall opponent’s attackers have to try and break down. Leitzig has an aerial presence many a goalkeeper will be jealous of and has proved herself of great worth to this Leicester side
Leicester City among the relegation candidates
What comes up, must go down – it has been the motto for the past two seasons as both Bristol City and Crystal Palace have been relegated after just one season in the top flight. We don’t see that happening with newly promoted London City Lionesses, with the squad they have built over the summer. So far, Leicester have failed to bolster their squad enough to compete.
With their future now up in the air lacking a permanent head coach it is difficult to call. Former West Ham assistant manager Rick Passmore is reported to be taking over as interim head coach. Without an injury crisis Miquel could likely have done far better at the helm, but we will now, never know. Leicester City’s season starts on 7th September, when they open their WSL campaign against Manchester United.
