Leicester City kids leading the way

Article by e-Leicester Correspondent Jonathan Smith

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Leicester City’s first team squad have been gifted a longer rest than usual, which means this weekend will be slightly quiet on the football front for Foxes fans. Despite the lack of senior action, the club’s Under 18’s will be taking on Tottenham Hotspur Under 18’s at Spurs Lodge on Saturday.

The club’s Academy doesn’t always get the publicity it deserves. Having gained category one status during the summer, City’s youngsters have found themselves in the Barclays Under 18 Premier League. They’ve been pitting their wits against the likes Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal and have claimed victories over Chelsea and Aston Villa so far.

They narrowly lost to Manchester United in the FA Youth Cup which in another notable performance. City are one of only six clubs who possess category one status but play outside of the Premier League at senior level. Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Middlesbrough and Reading are the other Championship representatives with Wolverhampton Wanderers currently playing in League One. Only four current Premier League sides have Academies that aren’t rated as Category One standard. The three newly promoted sides, Crystal Palace, Cardiff City and Hull City, and Welsh outfit Swansea City are yet to meet the criteria required to reach Category One standard.

For some supporters, youth team football isn’t of much interest but the Barclays Under 21 Premier League is offering an alternative to the sometimes expensive hobby of supporting a professional football club. So far this season, the likes of Jeff Schlupp, Chris Wood, Anthony Knockaert and January signing Riyad Mahrez have all played a part in more than one Under 21 fixture. In fact the list of first teamers who have featured for the Under 21’s is a pretty long one. Conrad Logan, Ignasi Miquel, Martyn Waghorn, Ben Marshall, Paul Gallagher, Neil Danns, Sean St Ledger and Marko Futacs have all played for Leicester’s first team at some point in the past but have found themselves in the development squad this season. Summer signing Zoumana Bakayogo hasn’t featured in a league game for City yet but has been a regular for the Under 21’s despite being 27 years old. That’s the beauty of the Under 21 league. It gives young professionals the opportunity to play alongside experienced footballers who have played at Premier League and International level previously.

It has been announced that there may be alterations made to the current system, with the Under 21 league being replaced with a B league for Under 23’s plus four over-age players. It’s all part of England’s attempt to develop a better quality of footballer for the future. The introduction of categories depending on the quality of a club’s academy is part of the EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan). Whether or not these ideas will benefit the national team is questionable.

Personally, I like the way Leicester have used the Under 21 competition this season. From the outside looking in, it appears that the club still views a loan spell at another club as the ideal learning curve for a young professional. The development of Liam Moore was helped greatly by the time he spent at Bradford City and Brentford. The club have let players such as Jacob Blyth and Jak McCourt go on loan to Northampton Town and Torquay United respectively this season. Alie Sesay has been a regular for the Under 21’s and is now on loan to Colchester United. It seems that the competition is proving useful, even if only to attract the attention of other Football League clubs whose squads need bolstering.

All supporters love to see youngsters from the local area develop into first teamers but the priority for every Academy is to develop players good enough for the first team no matter where they originate from. In the past, players like Andy King and Max Gradel were brought to Leicester’s Academy having failed to make the grade elsewhere. They have both gone on to become International footballers; Gradel representing Ivory Coast and King playing for Wales. City have gone down a similar route with their Under 21 squad, bringing in players like Ryan Watson and Adam Dawson, who had both been on the books at Wigan Athletic in the past, to add to the players that have come through the age groups at the club. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for many of the players who have been involved with the Under 21’s this season. Harry Panayiotou has already featured and scored for the first team back in 2012 but that’s been his only taste of senior football so far. He’s been a regular for the Under 21’s and is still only 19 years old so maybe he will be the next player to go on loan to aid his development.

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