After an exemplary senior debut, it seems Leicester City have another exciting, English left-back in their squad – assessing 19-year-old Luke Thomas.
Luke Thomas started the game versus Sheffield United as Leicester City’s left wing-back, replacing the injured Ben Chilwell and Christian Fuchs. To say that he looked comfortable playing at a Premier League level would be an understatement, he played with an assurance in his own game – that’s been forged playing for the Leicester City U23’s.
Thomas has made 15 appearances for the U23’s in the Premier League 2, playing primarily as a left-back (12 appearances) but sporadically, he’s started slightly more advanced as a left-midfielder (3 appearances). It’s this blend of positioning that makes him a good fit as a left wing-back – as it’s almost the intermediary position between left-back and left-midfield.
Throughout his campaign, he’s managed one goal and one assist – versus Wolverhampton Wanderers U23’s and Southampton U23’s respectively, a fairly average return for a fullback, however, when you consider how impactful his involvements in the final third were for the Foxes against Sheffield Utd, it’s surprising he hasn’t amassed more assists. It took Thomas all of 27 minutes to get his first Premier League assist and it was a beauty.
The former Development Squad defender wasn’t just the supplier for Pérez, Thomas was a key component when Leicester City were rotating the ball early in the play. His interplay with Harvey Barnes created an overload on the right-hand side – by sucking in the Sheffield midfielders.
Eventually, the ball was switched back over to the left and found Thomas. He perfectly weighted a disguised cutback into Pérez, who finished the chance expertly, but I want to highlight how pivotal the disguising of the pass was. By opening his body to facilitate a cross, the aggressive defender and midfielder – Oliver Norwood and John Egan – had to cover options in the penalty area. This gave Ayoze Pérez slightly more time to control the ball and find the finish. If Thomas had just made the cutback, I’m 100% certain that either of Norwood or Egan would have pressed the ball and blocked the shot. It was perfect execution from Thomas.
The assist was an embodiment of his intent, he always looked to make progressive passes in possession. Thomas enables these passes by opening up his body when receiving the ball – it’s a simple, yet highly effective asset to have as it creates a plethora of passing lanes every time you receive the ball. To have this as a youngster is also impressive, it’s quite easy to control the ball negatively – taking the touch back towards your own goal, as this is deemed safer, but Thomas was extremely courageous in possession.
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.