Leicester have another exciting youngster: assessing Luke Thomas

I was also impressed with the youngster’s positional awareness, particularly with regards to danger and when to make himself a passing option. Sheffield United often tried to exploit the space behind Thomas by playing long diagonal passes into either Oli McBurnie or David McGoldrick – who both drifted onto the 19-year-old as they perceived the aerial dual versus him to be easy. This was naive from their strike force, as not only did Thomas win seven defensive aerial duels – he was only outshone by Jonny Evans (10) and Wes Morgan (8), not bad company to be in.

Thomas was exceptionally good at offering for the ball, which was made possible by smart off-the-ball movements. His understanding of creating diagonal angles to the player in possession, always enabled a simple pass into him. He alleviated pressure multiple times by taking the ball from Youri Tielemans and Jonny Evans.

In possession, Thomas registered 70 touches which was only eclipsed by Evans (89), Tielemans (76) and Wilfred Ndidi (75), showing an eagerness to get on the ball and a trust from the senior members to facilitate such a high volume of possession. Additionally, Thomas contributed to 6% of Leicester City’s 54% possession – 11 per cent. Only, Evans (7.6%) and Tielemans (6.9%) held onto possession longer for the Foxes.

Thomas didn’t just pad these statistics by taking touches in the defensive third and complete his passes by playing simple one-two’s with Evans. A lot of his play was in the final third; he made 24 of his 61 passes (39.3%) in the final third, and 24 of his 70 touches (34.3%) were made in this region. Thomas also completed three key passes throughout the game, this was only surpassed by Jamie Vardy – who completed five key passes. For reference, the entire Sheffield United team made four key passes.

A stellar performance from the debutant – which earned him a match rating of nine from the Leicester Mercury – joint highest – and a 7.8 from WhoScored, joint third behind Ndidi and Tielemans. Undeniably, we saw a lot more of his attacking prowess, but he’s proven to be a good defensive full-back as well. Five of his twelve starts as a left-back in the U23’s have ended as a clean sheet (41.7%). A seemingly bright future for Thomas, and another brilliant young fullback for the Foxes.