Leicester City Team "Could Be Worth £200m"

The value of Leicester City’s squad could “triple or quadruple” after their Premier League title win.

The Foxes’ squad was assembled for £57m, the cheapest of any currently in the top half of the table.

“If you take Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez as individuals, you’re looking at £70m there,” said agent and sports lawyer David Seligman of Leicester’s attacking duo.

“You’re looking at a team of upwards of £200m.”

Leicester paid £1m for 29-year-old former non-league striker Vardy in 2012, while winger Mahrez, 25, joined for £400,000 in 2014.

Mahrez and Vardy have scored or assisted 48 of Leicester’s 64 league goals this season, and have both earned international caps for England and Algeria respectively.

France midfielder N’Golo Kante, 25, was bought from Caen for £5.6m and has also been a key asset for Claudio Ranieri’s side this term.

In January, research conducted by the International Centre for Sports Studies valued Vardy and Kante at 25m euros (£19.8m), with Mahrez at 40m euros (£31.7m).

Those figures differ from the values provided by market value analysis website Transfermarkt in the above graphic, although Seligman believes Leicester’s star names could command even higher prices.

“If people are paying £50m plus for Raheem Sterling, then Mahrez is worth more than that. He’s still got his peak to come,” said Seligman.

“Kante signed an initial contract a year ago and hasn’t signed another one and only has a year left. His rise has been meteoric.

“They’re all going on to be international players and that adds to the price tag. They’re better players now and also they’re superstars commercially. Their values are going to increase massively.”

Vardy signed a new three-year contract with Leicester in February, but has been linked with moves to former champions Manchester United and Chelsea.

“If you’ve got clubs like Chelsea, United and Arsenal coming in I don’t think you can turn them down – even if you wouldn’t be playing week in week out,” added Seligman.

“But Leicester are champions with billionaire owners. If United can pay someone £200k a week then so can Leicester.”

BBC

Leicester City Team "Could Be Worth £200m"

Commentary: Is Baku Worth Going?

So the question being now asked after Ghana’s abysmal performance at International Boxing Association (AIBA) All-Olympic Qualifiers in Yaoundé, Cameroon is whether to take the Black Bombers to the AIBA Olympic Boxing (AOB) Final World Olympic Qualification tournament in Baku, Azerbaijan later this year?

Ghana faces the prospects of missing out of the Olympics boxing tournament for the first time in 12 years as it could not qualify a single boxer to the Rio Games despite being positive about their chances before they left Accra.

All nine boxers presented at the African qualifiers, failed to book a ticket to the Olympics and Ghana will not be represented in Brazil unless the nation does well to qualify boxer’s at that the AOB championship in Azerbaijan between June 14-26.

Commentary is asking whether Baku is worth going for the Ghanaians considering the fact that they failed so woefully at the African event which served as a good platform for them to gain easier qualification.

Should the Bombers be made to go to the AOB in June where they will come up against the rest of the world in the battle for the last few spots at the Rio Games?

Certainly, the country is in a quagmire as to whether to go or not and clearly, the most definite answer should be a big no as the prospects of doing well will be much more limited than in Yaoundé.

Youth and Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye have already stated that concrete reasons must be given as to why they ought to be allowed to go and represent Ghana at the event.

He questioned whether they will do well at the event and be able to qualify Ghana to the Olympics and this is a position commentary is also in support of.

So, what might have caused Ghana boxing at this level to sink so low? The nation has a very proud tradition at this level, producing boxers that have gone on to do great things in the sport after they turned professional and the names as countless.

One problem has to do with the quality of trainers we have in the system now. The depth is lacking and Ghana will continue to fall back if the system is not changed.

Also, with the lack of quality trainers, averagely boxers are being pushed to hit above their weight, and, when they go into international competitions, they will always fall short when they come up against better prepared opponents.

The Ghana Amateur Boxing Authority (GBA) has also not helped in this direction as they have failed to organize and promote events that would inspire the youth to take to the sport and with it, develop more talents as it used to be in the past.

Woefully, the Ministry and the National Sports Authority have failed to inspire hope and confidence in a sport that has won so much respect, fame and applause for Ghana in the past and this is so pathetic to say the least.

Commentary will be watching keenly how these developments play out. Whether we send these boxers to Baku or not and whether the amateur sport will once again rise to the standards it used to be before?

Commentary: Is Baku Worth Going?