Unreal scout story as every superclub tries to sign Leicester's Monga

The Academy at Leicester City Football Club is widely praised, cited and ultimately fruitful for the Foxes. And while it is nice to be known for producing great footballing talents and acknowledged thusly - the last point is really the only one that matters here: generating appropriately skilled, graduating players. It is (somehow) somewhat of an impressive production line on Filbert Way in that sense. And the Srivaddhanaprabha family (owners) should definitely be lauded for their foresight in building the Seagrave training complex in Sileby, Leicestershire.

In recent times, a cornucopia of qualified, adept yet youthful ballers have emerged from City's world-renowned facilities. Not to mention able youngsters emerging from Belvoir Drive before the contemporary era. Like I say, the vision did not just offer the chance of attracting and developing precocious athletes, the facility even (theoretically) attracts seasoned professionals and deputised, senior pros.

Somewhere along the line, the East Midlands outfit oversaw the advancement of a child from nearby Coventry. Coventry City are Midlands rivals of ours, so I am positive that LCFC signing this guy really annoys them, even now. But Jeremy Monga did join the Leicester youth system at age nine. And that is our first clue as to how the King Power-run team started accumulating a better standard of youth: this was two or three years after we won the Premier League, a lure if ever there was one! Now every superclub wants to sign Monga; an unreal scout story backs speculation on the teenage winger too.

Leicester City became significant, developed potentially generational talents like Jeremy Monga - but now superpowers are ready to take over

Recognition came early for Monga at LCFC; he was designated as 'exceptional' almost immediately. He is arguably the most promising footballer to ever emerge from our system.

Monga advanced through City's ranks at speed; lifting the U16 Premier League Cup versus Manchester City was a watershed moment. Before he made his full Leicester debut, scouts from the best clubs on the planet came to watch him:

""Is he playing?"

'That question has regularly been uttered by visiting scouts inside the Sports Turf Academy building next to Leicester City's development squad pitch at Seagrave ahead of under-21 and under-18s games over the past couple of years.

If Jeremy Monga's name wasn't there, many would leave. But if it was on the teamsheet, then scouts from Manchester City, Chelsea and even Real Madrid, among others, would walk, en masse, to take their seats and watch one of the most promising young talents to come out of Leicester's academy for many years.'"

Rob Tanner, The Athletic