Leicester City: Two young hopefuls to join Foxes 2021/22 senior squad

Leicester City’s Kamal Sowah and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have returned from loan. Let’s see why they should be in the senior squad in the 2021/22 season.

Leicester is not particularly known for having the best development squad out there. However, they do have individually startling talents in most positions, and many of those were cleverly out on loan during the 2020/21 season.

Players such as Mitch Clark, Josh Knight, Filip Benkovic, and the subjects of this piece, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (‘KDH’) and Kamal Sowah, were loaned to hone their physicality, possibly to be ready for the upcoming Premier League season.

With these two returning to Filbert Way we think they should be in the senior squad next season to help keep up that Champions League challenge. I’ll use stats and comparisons to argue why!

Leicester City’s next breakthroughs

Numbers are the hardest element of a player’s game to improve. If you remember, Harvey Barnes’ first season back from loan was underwhelming: he was dangerous but did not offer much in the way of goals or assists.

The King Power side will need numbers to maintain their top four challenge into their third consecutive season. This is why Brendan Rodgers has spoken of the need to bring in players who have that winning mentality – numbers and winners.

Luckily for the Foxes, there are already two of those with numbers at the club. First, let’s talk Sowah!

Kamal Sowah is primarily a winger, who played almost every match for OH Leuven during the 2020/21 season, though it more versatile than any player currently in the Foxes squad. He has played in eight different positions for OHL.

He has eight goals and four assists across the season, though with his progressive passing – more progressive than Barnes – he should have expected to pick up many more assists. So the quality of the finishers have not been fantastic.

Meanwhile, KDH has been on loan at Luton Town, where the Hatters helped him to four player-of-the-month awards and gave him plenty of development in the Championship. The young attacking midfielder is ready for the first team.

KDH has played essentially every match for the Hatters, playing as a deep playmaker starting from the defensive midfield position, advancing into an attacking midfield role at times of high possession. He claimed three goals and six assists.

Interestingly, his defensive attributes significantly improved from his Blackpool loan move in the 2019/20 season. From tackling to defensive pressures, he seems to be much better at winning the ball and breaking up attacking play.

As such, Leicester City do not need to purchase both two wingers and an attacking midfielder. They already have one winger ready to go, and one attacking midfielder ready to prove himself in the Premier League; they still need to purchase at least one winger and a striker.