Pulse Opinion: What went wrong with Ahmed Musa at Leicester City?

Despite a fine start to life at Leicester City, Musa hit a snag at Leicester City, but what happened?

Leicester City were already down 3-0 to Barcelona in a pre-season friendly game in August 2016 when he made some changes and introduced the new £16.6 million signing Ahmed Musa.

Playing as a centre-forward, Musa was devastating in that game, exploiting the spaces between the Barcelona midfield and defence to some shattering effect. Two goals he scored in the game, the first, pouncing on loose ball around the centre circle before beating the Barcelona defence with his pace to finish off with his left foot.

For the second, he collected a pass in the Barcelona 18 yard-box to rifle a right footed shot into the top corner.

This was who Leicester City, the then Premier League champions had splashed  £16.6 million on. An experienced international who has played in the FIFA World Cup and Champions League. Blessed with insane pace, Musa -an underrated- fine finisher ticked all the boxes for Claudio Ranieri.

With a rigid direct system that saw Jamie Vardy outrun almost everyone in the Premier League to shockingly lead Leicester City to the title, Ranieri now had Musa. The prospect of the Musa-Vardy partnership was mouth-watering.

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating and Leicester City ate enough that Musa left a bitter taste in their mouth.

What went wrong

 

For a start, life in English football can be tough to adapt to. No matter how cliche this is, getting to terms with the chaotic, hell for leather, physical identity of the Premier League can be tough as Musa found out.

Adding to that, Ranieri oddly decided to move away from the take and hit approach with which he won the Premier League league title and went for a sort of ‘build-up’ play. The tweak was an answer to oppositions sitting back more. Leicester City had lost their underdog advantage, but Ranieri’s change in style did not suit his players, Musa included.

With no space and free channels to run it, Musa lacks the guile and nibble feet to work tight channels suffered. Even Jamie suffered but the stardust of his heroics of the previous season still left huge trails.

Following their freak title-winning season, Musa also arrived Leicester City at a time when the burden of expectation was so much higher than the club’s true rating and place.

Back home

 

A move back to CSKA Moscow presents a fresh opportunity for the 25-year-old.

In the first five seasons he spent with the Russian club, he scored 54 goals in 164 games, winning three Russian League titles, one Russian Cup and two Russian Super Cup trophies. He also finished as highest goalscorer in the league in 2013.