Leicester City’s George Hirst is on loan at Rotherham United in the Championship. Here we will judge his current loan and whether he can be Prem’ ready.
The son of David Hirst – the main striker for Sheffield Wednesday for over a decade from 1986 to 1997 – joined Leicester City during the 19/20 season, where he also starred for OH Leuven – the King Power’s sister club.
Hirst is no doubt an impressive striker, with the key attributes of many influential names in football, none less so than his own father. However, his time at the King Power has been short lived, though he has had his Premier League debut, and the 22-year-old does not seem ready to take the step up.
So, let’s have a look at how he got to join the Foxes, how he developed as a Fox, and how his development is going at Rotherham United, before passing judgement on his suitability for joining the Premier League team, as the eventual heir to the ‘N0. 9’ shirt.
Joining Leicester City
The signing of George Hirst – envisioned as a long-term prospect – in the 19/20 season was marred in controversy. Initially, the King Power brand purchased his services for OH Leuven in the Proximus League (second tier) of Belgian Football.
Leaving Sheffield Wednesday, his two goals and five assists over twenty matches earned him a move to the East Midlands. At the time, his transfer to the East Midlands led to legal action being taken by Sheffield Wednesday, claiming that the Foxes circumnavigated compensation rules by signing Hirst for OHL.
In the 19/20 season, he would make a total of 22 appearances for Leicester City, including two in the Premier League amounting to nine minutes of Premier League action in the dying embers of the Foxes top four chances.
So, how was he you might ask? Well, he was good, yet did not have quite as much hype around him as current PL2 youngster Jake Wakeling has. This is probably because very few had a chance to see much of him, and even then, he was not exactly smashing in sublime goals every match.
He scored 12 goals that season, roughly 0.54 goals every appearance. Most of these were clinical goals. He would get into a great position and there would be little opportunity for the goalkeeper to do anything about it.
As a comparison, Jamie Vardy for the same season had roughly 0.57 goals per appearance. So, Hirst was not doing poorly, he just did not do it in style, with much flair, or bag himself any hattricks.
What Hirst does well and his growth
As should be expected, I like Hirst. I have already stated that his key attributes are similar to many influential strikers from the past two decades of Premier League Football, so it is no wonder that Leicester City snapped him up when his value was low.
Also, it has to be said that he was rather consistent in scoring a single goal in a match. His attributes, when mixed with his consistency, make him a very valuable prospect for the King Power outfit.
What he offers is very similar to Dominic Calvert-Lewin: positional awareness, strength, and composure in front of goal. These are his key attributes which have brought him to joining Brendan Rodgers and one of the most exciting teams in Prem’ history.
He just knows where to stand! If a play is building, he will drive forward into a dangerous position, ready for the right kind of pass into him to create an opportunity, otherwise, he readies himself to try a header on. That positional sense is something only one other Foxes’ striker has – Kelechi Iheanacho.
However, this prospect is not quite having the best of times out on loan. As noted, he is at Rotherham United – in the Championship – where he was sent to get a tase of English football and to develop those skills he has in a tougher environment.
Well, tough it has been. Hirst is involved in a relegation scrap, and has yet to score for Rotherham over the course of 23 appearances, and has yet to register a single assist. With an average SofaScore rating of only 6.55.
That is just not good enough. No matter how poor the circumstances might be, for someone with his attributes, it should be expected for him to score at least a couple. What may have happened to him is the general lack of creativity in the Rotherham team affecting his ability to get in front of goal and score.
This loan move has been extremely poor. Only saved by the fact he has played relatively regular football, thus has maintained his fitness. He has not developed his key attributes at all. A 3/10 rating for this loan move.
With Jamie Vardy reaching ripeness, Kelechi Iheanacho looking more like a Vardy replacement, new prospects with flair and ingenuity catching the fans eyes, and the rumours of new signings to replace Vardy, George Hirst would need to drastically improve to be involved at the King Power next season.
Unlike the promising Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Kamal Sowah, I expect another loan move – this time to League One – for the heir to David Hirst’s legacy next season. Do not count him out though for the season after that, when we could expect to know whether Vardy’s contract will be extended beyond the 2023 terminal point.