Brandon Cover low-down as Leicester man fails to fulfil boss's expectations
Some eyebrows were raised when a much-changed and particularly youthful Leicester starting XI was named on Saturday afternoon ahead of the FA Cup contest with Birmingham City. Incidentally, the Foxes defeated the Blues fairly easily on the day to make the Fifth Round. Veteran Fox Marc Albrighton stood out for me: the winger was instrumental in two goals. Jamie Vardy, Yunus Akgun and Dennis Praet all scored in the 3-0 victory.
Another LCFC man who caught the eye at the weekend was Brandon Cover. Obviously some of the fans weren't aware of the midfielder who was given the great honour of a Leicester City Football Club debut. He is an academy product, joining the Leicestershire outfit at just age seven. The 20-year-old was clearly rewarded for his fine form in Premier League 2 for the Foxes Development squad.
Of course, inoffensive jokes such 'at least we have cover in that position' were hugely prevalent that day in the comment sections of the club's social media accounts. Thankfully the young professional with a swift trajectory was too busy to be preoccupied with online chatter. Seven other LCFC graduates were in the matchday squad, by the way.
𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐔𝟗 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐒𝐓 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌 📈 👏 Today Brandon Cover did what every young boy dreams of who starts kicking a football around the house.
— TheSecretScout (@TheSecretScout_) January 27, 2024
At the age of 8 he was one of the fortunate ones to be selected to join Leicester’s academy. Families will understand the… pic.twitter.com/dN3m4KQCPk
And, in the 45 minutes manager Enzo Maresca afforded him, Cover was superb in replace of Ricardo Pereira. However, the Portuguese was successfully reinstated at half-time. Yet the up-and-coming Fox certainly made his name with the Blue Army.
Leicester City boss unsatisfied with Yunus Akgun in spite of goal
Maresca wants more from attacking midfielder/winger Akgun. This comment was made in spite of the Turk getting off the mark for Leicester:
"I know Yunus very well and he’s not doing what we expected from him. He can do much more. He can do for 95 minutes what he did in the second half.
- Enzo Maresca
So we expect much more. But at the same time, he has been injured for a long time, he came here from a different country, he needs to adapt. We are very happy in terms of he is improving, but he can do much, much, much more."
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