James Maddison is set to be the first player out of the door following Leicester’s relegation

James Maddison is set to be the first player out of the door following Leicester’s relegation.

Seven years on from the greatest triumph, Leicester’s Premier League fairytale ended in heartbreak and relegation.

They have gone from champions to Championship and those glorious celebrations in 2016 were replaced with tears and despair. Claudio Ranieri’s 500/1 heroes were serenaded by Andrea Bocelli singing Nessun Dorma when they won the title at the King Power Stadium.

‌ Leicester did at least beat West Ham, but it was not enough to save their own skins and, frankly, it ended up being something of an anti-climax lacking in final day drama.

There were a couple of false alarms in the second half, but that was just cruel and the Leicester players congregated on the pitch round mobile phones after the final whistle at the King Power hoping for a Bournemouth equaliser at Goodison Park. But it never came and the Leicester players just trudged off at the end while the fans were almost split between booing and applause for a season which ended in despair.

Leicester have been allowed to drift to this point because just two years ago they won the FA Cup but the owners did not invest or rebuild the squad.

Things can change very quickly in the Premier League. On Sunday, Leicester City were relegated from the Premier League. Two years earlier, they were flying high, sitting pretty in third with a five-point lead over fifth-placed Chelsea with only eight games left to play.

Although they would eventually fall at the last hurdle when they failed to secure Champions League football on the final day, the nucleus of that squad – widely regarded as the best the club have ever possessed, with more depth than even the 2015-16 Premier League winning side – remains this season.

Wesley Fofana and Kasper Schmeichel are the only regulars who have left since then, and Leicester have also invested since, bringing in the likes of Patson Daka, Wout Faes and Harry Souttar.

With James Maddison, Youri Tielemans, Harvey Barnes and others at their disposal, the Foxes should have been nowhere near the bottom three and Brendan Rodgers paid for this with his sacking in April. Dean Smith was brought in as a firefighter for the final few games of the season, but he failed to get a tune out of the squad, with Leicester tasting victory just twice during his brief spell in charge.