Claude Puel calls for patience with Demarai Gray
Claude Puel has demanded more patience with Demarai Gray, who he thinks has a huge role to play at Leicester City in the near future.
Gray has made 34 appearances across all competitions this season, starting 19 of those games and managing four goals as well as a couple of assists.
The 21-year old has already made more starts this season than he has in any of the previous seasons, reflecting the faith that Claude Puel has so far shown in his young sensation.
However, Demarai Gray still isn’t a regular feature of the Puel’s Leicester City, something that frustrated both fans and the player himself last season, too. The Frenchman, though, has asked everyone to be patient, insisting that Gray would have a role to play in the club’s future.
"“He is a young player who continues to work well,” said Puel.“He continues to learn how to be consistent, and he needs to continue to work to become more clinical. It is just what you ask of all offensive players.“He has all the qualities and attributes to play in any position, winger left, winger right and behind the striker. He is like a striker because he has good attributes. He needs to learn step by step to have a good clinical edge in the box, to have a good final touch.“We have time with him. He is a young player and we need to be patient with him.“He tries to continue to improve. All the players want game time. It is always difficult for a manager to try to manage all these players with a good spirit in the training session.“If they can continue to improve it is a good thing for them and for the club, but they need to understand the work is the most important thing in the training sessions and in the games.”"
Demarai Gray has been deployed in a number of positions this season, playing mostly as a second striker just behind Jamie Vardy. Another young player, Fousseni Diabate, has been used the same way by Puel. He himself explains why:
"“It is a good opportunity for him and other players like Diabate, who have the possibility to play in more positions because they can have more game time and give more opportunities and solutions for the team.“In two or three seasons more, it will be important to keep a position and develop and improve in one position.”"
As he has maintained before, both with his words and actions, Claude Puel wants to have a good balance in the side. He recently got rid of Leonardo Ulloa, Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani to somewhat ease up the pressure of competing for the players that he prefers the most. The departures also mean that each and every player can now have sufficient game time under his belt.
"“Every player is different, his progress is different.“Sometimes it is a question of maturity and patience, and opportunities. Sometimes it is about whether people believe in this player can give them game time also.“For example, we tried in the transfer window to reduce the squad to give some players more game time, like Gray, Iheanacho and Diabate.“It was a balance. For different young players it is important to give them a good place on the team with good mature players around them.“We have a good balance on the team between experienced players and young talented players, like Gray, Iheanacho, Harvey Barnes and Diabate. “These are good players for the future and we have to continue this work.“Sometimes they get good opportunities and game time, and other times it is not enough because young players don’t have the consistency. This is normal. We have to show our patience and continue this work because it is a long process.”"
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As the Puel project continues to shape, fans can brace themselves for some genuinely exciting times at the King Power Stadium.