If Leicester City are relegated this season – and as things stand it is more likely than not – then their squad will undergo an overhaul in the summer.

It happens to some degree every time a Premier League team drops into the Championship. Not only are there players whose qualities earn them moves back into the top flight, but the clubs themselves need to adjust to the much lower budget they will be working with in the second tier.

When City were relegated in 2023, they saw a total of 13 senior players leave, many on free transfers (frustratingly, given what they would have been worth under contract), some for significant fees, and some on loan.

They had to rebuild. They brought in nine senior players, five on permanent deals for just under £40m, and then with a few loan fees added on top.

That was a significant outlay, and one that paid off, at least in getting City back into the Premier League. But it would also have contributed to the issues City have been having around Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Those concerns saw City spend less than fellow promoted clubs Ipswich and Southampton in the summer, and restricted the deals that could be done in the January window.

City’s series of poor financial years are slowly dropping out of the three-year period assessed under PSR, and therefore easing pressures.

But if they go down again, they should still hope to avoid having to pay out millions to rebuild their squad. And there are signs already they won’t have to.
When City went down previously, they had a couple of academy graduates already established in the squad in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Hamza Choudhury, and then a few more were promoted into Enzo Maresca’s group.
Kasey McAteer was brought into the fold and featured reasonably regularly, while Jakub Stolarczyk was promoted to back-up goalkeeper, with the likes of Ben Nelson and Wanya Marcal playing a handful of games too.

If City go down again, there are excellent signs that they will be able to more greatly rely on their academy.

Stolarczyk, McAteer and Luke Thomas, all in the squad at the moment, may be able to play more prominent roles in the Championship.
While injury has prevented him from featuring regularly on loan at Oxford, Nelson could be a contender to start if City fall into the second tier.
Will Alves will return to the club a better player, and capable of starting if his first few games with Cardiff are anything to go by.
Marcal could come into contention again, while midfielder Sammy Braybrooke, after a full year of football after his ACL tear gives City a potential option in the centre of the pitch.

Then there’s 16-year-old prodigy Jake Evans, who would surely be ready to play in the Championship next season given his form at Under-21 level and how close he’s come to a Premier League outing in recent weeks.
The same could probably be said for 15-year-old Jeremy Monga, although there are doubts over his long-term future at the club as the Premier League’s big guns sniff around him.
Midfielder Louis Page is another who is progressing a rate of knots, the 16-year-old a regular at Under-21 level already.
McAteer jumped from League Two to the Championship to play a part for City last term, so there’s no reason why right-back Brandon Cover may not be able to do the same after a season with Port Vale and Fleetwood.

Midfielder Henry Cartwright and centre-back Tom Wilson-Brown have both been on the first-team bench in the past couple of months. Full-back Jayden Joseph has been a regular in training under Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Michael Golding, having received rave reviews at Chelsea before joining City, may be closer to being ready for first-team football.
There are others who are impressing in Premier League 2 as City’s development squad go from strength to strength. Full-back Bade Aluko looks to have a good future ahead of him, while attacking midfielder Logan Briggs is capable of stand-out performances, scoring a brace in a 2-1 win over Derby this week.

Under Leon McSweeney’s guidance, City’s Under-21s are having their best season in recent years. They’ve now won four games in a row in all competitions, face QPR in the Premier League Cup last-16 on Friday and are well-placed to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs in Premier League 2.

Not all of the mentioned players will be ready to step up to play for City’s first team if they fall into the Championship, but it feels certain that the club will be better positioned to draw upon their academy to build their senior squad than when they previously went down.