As the alarms ring loudly, the staff at Seagrave, Leicester City’s training ground, start to file outside in an orderly fashion – except for one individual.
Wout Faes is instinctively heading into the (possibly burning) building to continue his recovery sessions and to prepare for the next game.
“Wout, that’s the fire alarm!”
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Faes simply shrugs his shoulders and wanders on in, unfazed by the commotion.
The Belgium international has had to deal with a lot in his first year with Leicester, so an annoying alarm isn’t going to deter him from the task of trying to get the club back into the Premier League as soon as possible.
As his father, Dirk, told The Athletic in November last year, playing in the Premier League had been Faes’ dream and he was left stunned when, two days before the close of the summer transfer window, it came true as French top-flight club Reims accepted a bid from Leicester as they looked to replace Chelsea-bound fellow defender Wesley Fofana.
Faes had been all smiles the following Sunday as he joined his new team-mates at the Amex Stadium for the first time, even though he wasn’t eligible to play in the game.
The smile had gone as he walked back down the tunnel a couple of hours later after witnessing a 5-2 loss against Brighton. His debut came in the next game — an even heavier defeat: 6-2 away to Tottenham. The full magnitude of the task that lay ahead of him and them in the 2022-23 season was clear.
Things improved. Faes was a key performer as Leicester were resurgent before the World Cup break began in mid-November, six clean sheets in eight games helped secure five wins and a draw, and he was included in the Belgium squad for the tournament.
The dream was coming true.
And then it turned into a nightmare.
Having been an unused substitute in all three games as Belgium made a surprisingly early exit from the World Cup, Faes returned to his day job and quickly suffered the ignominy of scoring both Liverpool’s goals for them in a 2-1 defeat at Anfield.
The season went downhill from there, a run of one league win in three months leading to a final-day relegation. The Championship is not where Faes and Leicester had expected to end up.
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But Faes isn’t in the mood to feel sorry for himself or reflect too much on where it all went wrong. He doesn’t moan and his wounds have already been licked. That campaign is over — consigned to the history books, in his opinion. There is only one course of action now for the 25-year-old.
“It changed a bit after the World Cup, with some bad results and obviously the relegation, which was quite difficult to accept, but we have to face it and accept it,” Faes says, matter-of-factly. “We have to fix it ourselves with new objectives and to get promoted straight away.
“It was unexpected but football is unpredictable. It’s about what happens on the pitch and we didn’t produce enough performances during the year. That’s why we’re in the situation now.”
Relegation has resulted in huge changes at Leicester.
Countryman Youri Tielemans, who grew up with Faes in the Purple Talent Programme at Brussels club Anderlecht, is one of 10 players from last year’s squad to have moved on.
Joining the exodus is not at the forefront of Faes’ thinking, although he admits he is doubly determined to get back to the English top flight.
“I have had a taste of the Premier League and I want to return as soon as possible,” he says. “Youri is off to a new challenge (as Aston Villa), which is good for him. Obviously, I would have liked him to have stayed, but that’s football: players move on and players come in and show their qualities to us.
“As a football player you want to be playing at the highest level, but we are in the situation we are in now and you have to face it. When you step out on the pitch, you just want to win every game, and that’s the most important. It doesn’t matter what division.
“The window is not closed yet, so you never know what can happen, but for now, I am fully focused on Leicester.”
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There are plenty of reasons for Faes to stay.
He and wife Linde are settled in Rutland, a largely rural area 30 minutes drive east of Leicester, where Faes can indulge his passion for fishing — although the wet weather this summer has restricted his time by the waterside.
As he sits with The Athletic in the players’ garden at Seagrave, it is hard to imagine he could have a better environment in which to work as well.
His new post-World Cup international manager Domenico Tedesco has also assured Faes he will not lose his place in the squad trying to qualify for the European Championship in Germany next summer just because he is now playing in the second division.
Then there is the fresh voice and new ideas brought by Leicester’s new manager Enzo Maresca.
Faes admits the atmosphere at the training ground has changed from last season under Brendan Rodgers and then those final weeks with interim boss Dean Smith.
“Logically, the mood was low, because obviously we got relegated, which we didn’t expect and didn’t want,” Faes says. “We need to fix it. I think the objective is clear for everyone and that’s why everybody is very focused and hungry to win every game and get promoted.”
Maresca, a coach on Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning Manchester City staff last season, has brought a different style of play to Leicester — a possession-based system where the defenders are key in starting the attacks.
Faes will have an important role to play in Maresca’s back four-cum-three system, and says the players are enjoying the fresh approach.
“We had some time to adapt in pre-season,” Faes says. “Last year we weren’t used to having the ball that much compared to now. I think that’s something you need to learn also. But it’s a good way to play football. I think everybody likes to have the ball more than running behind the ball and his ideas and his system are made to have the ball.”
His football education at Anderlecht, where he was used as a midfielder to improve his technical ability on the ball, will serve him well under Maresca.
“I can play wide or in the centre, so I am quite versatile,” he says. “It’s a new role for me and a new system, but it is nice to experience it.
“That (time at Anderlecht) will certainly help me and I am enjoying this way of playing.”
‘Marescaball’ doesn’t come without risks, though.
In the opening game of the season on August 6, Leicester lost possession several times just in front of their back three as they tried to play through Coventry City’s press, leaving Faes and his fellow defenders exposed.
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However, Faes believes taking chances like that can potentially reap great rewards.
“People always say there’s a risk if you try to play (that brand of) football,” he says. “It’s easy to give a long ball and then go and compete for the second ball, because then you will never make mistakes and you will never get punished. But I think you have to accept it (playing Maresca’s way) because it gives you a lot of positive things too, if you can get out of the pressure. By playing like this, I think you can have goalscoring opportunities.
“Against Coventry, we had a lot of the ball but they had some chances so we have to adjust a few things and then obviously be a little more clinical ourselves maybe.
“We will get better week by week.” (Leicester eventually beat Coventry 2-1 then followed up by beating Huddersfield Town 1-0 away on Saturday to sit joint-top of the fledgling Championship table with Ipswich Town on a maximum six points.)
With that, Faes stands up and heads back to work, a man on a mission — and not even a fire alarm is going to stop him.
(Top photo: Clive Mason/Getty Images)
