Leicester City U-23’s or as we would say, the reserves, are well in to their season with league, international cup and domestic cup games all being played. The variety of players used makes it difficult to see a pattern. 4th place in the PL2 after 7 games is not bad. Everton, Arsenal and Man City are three clubs above in the table.
Everton is on a march of bringing forward young talent and they are doing a grand job in their academy, a great example to follow for Leicester City who are just three points behind.
This is surely a place for development of players, and no place for players who have turned the age of 30 or are previous first teamers with hundreds of first team appearances, but again to play them will of course make the team possibly stronger.
Andy King and Danny Simpson are two of those being used, since they are surplus at the moment and no longer part of the future plans of Claude Puel, nice to see that Steve Beaglehole can see some use in them, but of course this can’t be part of the academy strategy and policy.
After watching the reserves both live and on the website for a number of games, you are surely impressed with the group and can see that talent are flourishing. Raul Uche, Hamza Choudhury and Kieran Dewsbury-Hall impressed and improves.
Choudhury is close to the place in the first team squad and has made a number of appearances, but it could be that he, as Harvey Barnes, should be given a chance to go out on loan and play at least for a club in the Championship.
The PL2 season is well under way, with seven games played, three wins, two draw and two defeats so far, 11 / 7 in goal difference. As earlier said a 4th place in the table. Despite a 1-2 loss in the last fixture against Arsenal, the recent cup game v. Norwich, winning 3-0, must have lifted the group.
Focus might not be 100 % on results, but to give players a chance to develop. To be a bit critical might not be nice, but as we see in the first team squad, the balance and player logistics are probably not totally in place, and we could see a number of these players being shipped out or loaned to other clubs in the near future.
Leicester City will always be out there in the transfer market to try to find new and good players, but of course we would rather see players coming up through the youth system. For every young player leaving the club and not getting his debut in the first team or getting established as first teamer, you will always see it as a failure.
So far in the last three or four seasons, Ben Chilwell is the only player from the youth system at the club to be able to break into the first team and he has allready made his full international debut, would love to see more players doing that.
Harvey Barnes who is another example of a great young prospect will hopefully also be able to force his way into the first team and others could be also given a chance. Leyton Ndukwu, Darnell Johnson and Callum Wright are three names to follow and they are what you would say, potential first team players at Leicester City.
Players who have played in the U.23’s this season, if you see a *, sign of being overaged and not part of the U.23’s.
- Goalkeepers
- Eldin Jakupovic *
- Victor Johansson
- Defenders
- Danny Simpson *
- Darnell Johnson *
- Josh Knight
- Yohan Benalouane *
- Caglar Soyuncu
- Callum Elder
- Louis Ramsay
- Alexandru Pascanu
- Calvin Ughelumba
- Midfield
- Hamza Choudhury
- Andy King *
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
- Conor Tee
- Fousseni Diabate
- Callum Wright
- Thakgalu Leshabela
- Tyrese Shade
- Lamine Kaba Sherif
- Forwards
- Shinji Okazaki *
- Layton Ndukwu
- Admiral Muskwe
- Raul Uche
- Ryan Loft
- Liandro Felipe Mathis
- Josh Eppiah
- Out On Loan
- Harvey Barnes, (M) West Bromwich Albion
- George Thomas, (F) Scunthorpe United
- Max Bramley, (G) Telford United
- Daniel Iversen (G), Oldham Athletic
- Elliott Moore (D), Leuven
- Kamal Sowah (M), Leuven
- Bartosz Kapustka (M), Leuven
- Filip Benkovic (D), Celtic
You can always follow up on all U.23 games from our season fact page.
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