Leicester’s star academy midfielder to go Dewsbury-Hall way
Leicester City’s academy and England U18 star Sammy Braybrooke is set to follow in the footsteps of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall according to Brendan Rodgers.
U18 captain, England debutant at only 17, compared to Luka Modric, and present in the senior squad for European competition. That is Sammy Braybrooke. Leicester’s up-and-coming defensive midfield talent.
He is not alone as a star talent in the development side. With Tawanda Maswanhise, Kasey McAteer, Brad Young, Ben Grist, Ben Nelson, Chris Popov, Shane Flynn, and of course Wanya Marcal-Madivadua all progressing just as swiftly.
However, as was the case with plenty of Foxes youth players, the time is soon coming where a decision must be made about how to prepare him for senior football. It appears, Rodgers knows.
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If you look at how the academy graduates have been integrated into the senior side, there is only one player who has not followed a particular pathway. That was Luke Thomas: after the injuries to Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira, Thomas came straight into the first team with little senior experience.
Otherwise, Harvey Barnes and our ‘undroppable’ English midfielder both went on an extended period of loans before being brought into the fold. This gave them much needed experience of senior football and provided a basis for their long-term development.
According to the Northern Irish gaffer, it seems this is also the plan with Braybrooke:
"“We brought him to PSV to give him that big-game experience… then hopefully there’ll be a loan spell for him, similar to what there was with Kiernan, where he goes out and plays football for real”"
As with what happened with Jakub Stolarczyk, McAteer, Vontae Daley-Campbell, and others, it is clear how the King Power club seek to develop their youth talent. First, give them some experience of training with the senior side. Then just send them out on some loans for real game experience.
This strategy worked wonders with both Barnes and KDH. I hope to see it work out with ‘VDC’, Stolarczyk, Callum Wright, and George Hirst. These young players have oodles of potential, but need that real exposure to struggle, success, and failure to develop into senior players for the Foxes.
What the young England international brings to the table is possibly revolutionary: a long-term successor to our midfield base, a possible captain, and a passionate yet sound passer of the ball from a defensive position. This has been recognised by Rodgers:
"“At the moment he’s a player that’s progressing very, very well…. he’s got a wonderful football brain, he passes the ball well, can play through the lines really well”"
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Our Modric-style player is on his pathway like Barnes and KDH before him, so expect to see the midfielder in blue and white on the King Power pitch in two years’ time. Until then, let us stay eager for a player like him.