Academy graduate to become the next Leicester star

Perhaps the strangest of inclusions in the Leicester City starting XI for the game versus West Bromwich Albion was Luke Thomas. The 19-year-old who hasn’t started in the league since the return of both starting wing-backs, Timothy Castagne and Ricardo Pereira.

In absence of players ahead of him, Luke Thomas has always performed admirably when called upon, with the game at the King Power Stadium against Sam Allardyce’s West Bromwich Albion being no exception. On occasion, Thomas has been deployed as the left-back, rounding out a back four, but this time he featured further forward, playing as the Foxes’ left wing-back in a 3-4-1-2 formation.

Many of the English youngsters cameo’s have been in the UEFA Europa League – highlighting the qualities Brendan Rodgers feels he possesses. Thomas became a crucial part of Leicester City’s European group stage and managed to accumulate as many minutes (540) as he’s done all season in the Premier League – also 540. Although, I would suggest as an average, the opposition the Foxes faced in the UEL are of a lower quality than those in the domestic league.

In the comfortable, 3-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion, Thomas scored an impressive 7.5 out of 10 according to WhoScored.com – out of the starting XI this placed him as the sixth highest performer. That’s nothing notable, but I’ve stated frequently – on my post-game threads – how difficult the wing-back position is inside of the 3-4-1-2 structure, Rodgers is implementing at the moment.

In attacking sequences, they’re the most advanced player (naturally) and often receive the ball with little vertical passing lanes and are forced into recycling possession. This limits  their attacking input and they’re also relied upon heavily in defensive situations – plugging the gaps in width and creating a numerical stalemate (with their side centre-back vs. the opposition winger and full-back).