We have seen over the years how young homegrown local talent has flourished at Leicester, but that is not something coming out of the blue, it must be part of a plan as some get their path in place.
Hamza Choudhury (26) is one player that has taken a very different route from Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ben Chilwell and Harvey Barnes, all three establishing themselves as first team regulars and later being sold for monumental transfer fee’s in recent time.
Choudhury came through almost at the same time, and his talent has not really got the chance to flourish in the same way, best reason is lack of first team opportunities in an area of the field were competition has been massive. Choudhury was never part of that relegation two years ago, as he spent the season on loan at Watford. He returned and played 34 league games last season, being important in that run leading to a promotion back to Premier League.
This pre-season he was surprisingly picked as a starter in the last game vs. Lens, getting the captaincy from Steve Cooper as it looks a bit difficult to understand what the purpose was and what type of role he will play at the club next season. As mentioned in a recent article on Soccervoice, Harry Winks and Wilfred Ndidi, both captains in the past, also in that starting eleven. They look more certain to play a steady role in the team, something that cannot be said about Hamza Choudhury. Choudhury was last season a squad player acting in a number of roles, something we do believe also will be the matter in this one. The England U.21 international, with 7 caps, has turned 26. A year ago he signed a long term deal, so the idea must be to see him play some sort of role.
Luke Thomas is another player in this category, at his best a starter in a FA Cup winning final, and also scoring at Old Trafford, showing great promise in his early days, but in some way being seen as one to drop. Enzo Maresca send him out loan, first to Sheffield United, and in the other half to Middlesbrough. He has been back for pre-season, but looks overlooked and far from one to believe will play an important role at Leicester next season.
People often draw early conclusion on players, and from the major part of the fanbase, both Hamza Choudhury and Luke Thomas, are seen as players they have given up on. A bit sad that people who are local and committed, not being called on, as we do know their best performances in the team has been really, really good.
Will Alves has this summer been given minutes in the first team, but so far, and at the age of 19, he looks one for the future. He is a talented young player, but Steve Cooper looks reluctant to trust him at this point to be a starter in the first team, and stressed earlier on that he lacked depth in the area that Will Alves certainly could have operated. We do not know what type of plan is in place for Alves, but with the arrival of Facundo Bounanotte, and a major search still on for players in this are of the field, Alves will certainly struggle for game time, and could easily fall back to play for the developement team this season.
Kasey McAteer is a fourth player in this category, also an attacking player that could have been interested to watch at the highest stage, but in some strange way, not a player Steve Cooper seems to understand, as he has been seen as a potential loan move, also suggested a selling object, with Hull and Cardiff talked up.
We would have loved to see them all in some sort of first team progress and after looking at players such as Lamine Yamal, Kobbie Mainoo and Pau Cubarsi, you certainly would believe age should be no issue, if the quality is good enough, then if not, we will just wait and see.
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