Heading down the flanks, Damon Carter tries to keep up with pacy Leicester City wing options who have had interesting seasons.
Harvey Barnes of Leicester City
Appearances: 46 / Premier League 32 / Europe 11 / FA CUP 2 / EFL CUP 1 /
Goals: 11 / Premier League 6 / Europe 3 / FA CUP 1 / EFL CUP 1 /
Moment to savour: A stunning equaliser against his favourite club Leeds United
Moment to forget: Being hauled off at half-time of the City Ground debacle
I tend to start these articles by dispelling a myth. The myth that continues to be pedalled around the talented Harvey Barnes is normally surrounding his youth. Many times he is forgiven for his inexperience due to his age, so let’s get this out of the way. Harvey Barnes will be 25 in December and should no longer be given the youthful status (for a footballer anyway) despite his baby face features.
This might seem an irrelevant point, but it should help us define where we expect Barnes to be in his City career. His statistics sit very high with 11 goals and 14 assists in all competitions. His Premier League assists of 10 was the fifth highest of the division and more than the likes of Harry Kane and Kevin De Bruyne.
The LCFC academy graduate continues to be a danger out wide and seems to be ticking along nicely out wide on the left. In 2020/2021 he managed more goals in less appearances with 13 but significantly fewer assists, registering only four. This season his shooting accuracy is down 10% to 36% and he has more big chances missed with eight. Although the top EPL players, with respect to big misses, tend to be the best players with Kane, Son and Salah leading that particular field. Barnes is also the City player that attempted the most dribbles with 75.
Before his 2020/2021 season was cruelly ended by injury he was on a hot streak and looking a dead cert for 20 goals. Although he was available from the first minute of the season, it’s clear that his injury was still being managed for some time with many games not completing a full 90 minutes. He was also regularly seen icing his leg after the game, a precautionary method perhaps? Maybe not.
I’m a huge Harvey Barnes fan and think that with some clever additions to his game and ideally a bit more aggression he can be a real handful. But last season too often it seemed that a full-back would get in the former’s face early on to see how he would react.
All too often Barnes would shrink from the game and lose confidence or run out of ideas. Kyle Walker almost goaded him into taking him on at the King Power and Barnes couldn’t find the trickery needed.
This type of occurrence bears fruit with the statistic that Barnes lost the most duels out of any other foxes player, this is an area he has to find a way of correcting as when he fires he can be a real handful. Hopefully, 2022/2023 will see Barnes finally terrorise defenders whilst he dares them to take him down.
Rating 7.5/10 Chances of leaving: 10%
Ademola Lookman
Appearances: 41 / Premier League 26 / Europe 11 / FA CUP 2 / EFL CUP 2 /
Goals: 8 / Premier League 6 / EFL CUP 2 /
Moment to savour: An amazing run and link up with KDH to strike down Liverpool with the winner
Moment to forget: The substituted sub at Rennes
Whilst I’m talking ages, it’s worth flagging that Ademola Lookman is only two months older than Harvey Barnes so they’re both at similar stages in their development.
Arriving on loan from Red Bull Leipzig to fill a space out wide he wasn’t met with a great deal of excitement by the fans. But this was a loan signing that proved to be a definite success. Lookman still looks like a raw talent, especially when he overplays the ball in tight spaces, but his tenacity and determination often sees him correct his own mistakes quickly without worry. This resilience has been a refreshing addition to a squad sometimes lacking in belief. He was the second-highest LCFC dribbler but most importantly he tops the club list for successful dribbles.
Many times he wasn’t quite on the same wavelength as his teammates for creating chances for others with only one big Premier League chance created. He did manage five assists against lesser opposition in the other competitions.
But Lookman’s link-up play tends to encourage his teammates to play him in, as he is a player that rarely stays still and looks for chances to be given to him. This was proven beautifully with a memorable winning goal in the now traditional Leicester v Liverpool Christmas fixture (random fixture list, hmm).
So he has plenty going for him and by all accounts won’t break the bank for Leicester City, so why are the club hesitating over buying him permanently? It could be his position, which tends to be out wide left where Harvey Barnes likes to play, accommodating him on the right seems to be a slight waste of his talent as he struggles to cut inside on his left.
But having Lookman as an option to challenge Barnes for the left-hand side could be a way to improve on both of their developments with some healthy competition. It seems a no-brainer of a transfer given his first-season impact, but Leicester City doesn’t seem to be showing a great deal of intelligence in the transfer market as they struggle to make any significant signings.
Rating: 7/10 Chances of returning: 50%