In 2016, Leicester dominated the English Premier League. Where are the players who had the biggest part in winning the title now?

The English club’s meteoric rise through the Premier League in the 2015/2016 season has captured the attention of football fans across Europe and beyond. In the end, eighty-one points came from it, which meant winning the championship title. In hindsight, where are the players who had the biggest part in winning the title?

Kasper Schmeichel

The Danish goalkeeper and son of the legendary Peter Schmeichel started his career at Leicester back in 2011. In the championship season, he was a big part of the fact that the Foxes received only thirty-six goals. He saw a transfer out of England in 2022 when French side Nice reached out for him.

Danny Simpson

The right-back has linked almost his entire career with English clubs. He first won the title in 2008 with Manchester United. Leicester won it from QPR in 2014.

He was there until July 2019. He joined Huddersfield as a free agent in September of that year. He also briefly wore the jersey of Bristol City. He concluded his rich football career in March 2022.

Wes Morgan

The Jamaican international basically split his career between two clubs. While he started it at Nottingham Forest, he ended it in a Leicester blue jersey in 2021. He parted with an impressive record of 323 games played, in which he scored fourteen times.

Robert Huth

When he joined Leicester from Stoke in 2015, he already had two Championship titles to his name. He had collected those during his time at Chelsea in 2005 and 2006. His experience fitted perfectly into the Foxes defence and he started thirty-five games in the Championship season. Subsequently, he also enjoyed the Champions League. He said goodbye to his professional career in 2018.

Christian Fuchs

Fuchs also joined the English club in 2015. The Austrian defender previously donned the Schalke 04 jersey. Including the championship season, Fuchs was in the service of Leicester until 2021.

During that time, he appeared in 152 matches and, in addition to three goals, he also recorded thirteen assists. He played in the USA for Charlotte until January 2023. He then moved seamlessly into the role of assistant coach at that club.

N’Golo Kanté

He was still playing in the French second division in 2012. However, his performances caught the attention of Caen, where he headed as a free agent. Kanté’s hard work and effort eventually helped Caen to promotion to the top French competition.

It was Leicester who showed interest in his services in the watershed year of 2015. He immediately asked for a place in the squad and it was also thanks to his contribution that the Foxes eventually celebrated the title. Kanté’s successful season shot him to Chelsea after a year.

Here, in addition to his success on the pitch, he also collected trophies. To name a few, the 2017 championship title or the trophy for winning the Champions League in the 2020/2021 season. Currently, his contract in London is expiring and he is unlikely to stay. A move to Saudi Arabia is in the cards.

Danny Drinkwater

The Manchester United alumnus chose the blue jersey of Leicester in 2012. Since then, he has played 218 games there with a record of twenty-three assists and fifteen goals scored. In 2017, he was coveted by Chelsea.

However, unlike Kanté, he didn’t make a name for himself in London and racked up only twenty-three starts. He wandered around on loan spells in England and Turkey. After his Reading loan spell ended, Drinkwater became a free agent in July 2022.

Riyad Mahrez

The Algerian winger was snapped up by the English outfit in 2014 from France. He also made his name in golden letters among the architects of the historic success. In the championship season, he scored seventeen goals in thirty-seven matches, to which he added ten assists.

He continued his successful performances at Manchester City, where he transferred in 2018. He has a number of national team and club successes to his name. Most recently, he lifted the trophy for winning the Champions League above his head.

Marc Albrighton

Aston Villa, Wigan, Leicester and West Brom. That’s the full list of clubs the thirty-three-year-old Englishman has been associated with so far in his career. He has played the most games (299) for the Foxes. In January this year, the club sent him on loan to West Brom. A question mark hangs over his future, as his current contract expires in January next year.

Jamie Vardy

Vardy is also intrinsically linked with the Championship season. He scored twenty-four goals, which made him the second best scorer in the whole competition.

He joined the English national team and at the age of twenty-nine was one of the players who were in great demand on the transfer market. Eventually, however, all the speculation died down and, even at thirty-six, Vardy is still part of the now second-tier side.

Shinji Okazaki

Like some of the aforementioned, the Japanese striker came to England in 2015. This time from German side Mainz. Although he wasn’t as goal-scoring as Vardy in the Championship season, his presence on the pitch made him a solid part of a well-built line-up.

It wasn’t until 2019 that he got the challenge of a new deal, heading to Malaga for free. He has also donned the jerseys of Huesca and Cartagena. He is currently at Belgian side Sint-Truidense, but his contract expires at the end of June, making Okazaki a free agent at the age of thirty-seven.

Source: Transfermarkt