Leicester city on cusp of something great with impressive milestone possible

With Bade Aluko making his Leicester City debut in the final few minutes of the season, the number of club academy graduates to have played their first Premier League game this campaign rose

to five. Jakub Stolarczyk was handed his first outing at Liverpool last December, the same month Will Alves made a brief appearance before he was loaned to Cardiff. Jeremy Monga and Jake

Evans’ opportunities first came in April. Five homegrown Premier League debutants in one campaign is a strong amount. In City’s nine-season run in the top flight before their previous

relegation, there were 12 homegrown debutants, an average of just over one a season. There are caveats. City had a weaker squad this season than in all of those previous nine top-flight

campaigns, while their early relegation allowed greater freedom on squad selection. Both factors were key in Ruud van Nistelrooy turning to academy products. But it still represents a

positive and it puts City on the cusp of something great. The rate at which the club’s academy has produced top-level players has improved considerably over the past 15 years. Players worth

millions have emerged. Ben Chilwell started for the winning team in a Champions League final four years ago. Harvey Barnes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have just qualified for Europe’s top

competition. City sold the trio for more than £100m combined. Producing these highly-talented individuals is brilliant, for what they can give City, for the money they can make the club, for

the joy it brings fans, and for the kudos. But there’s room for City to be even more prolific. The task is to produce more and more players capable of holding their own in the Premier

League, even if they’re not going to be the subject of £30m transfers. The ideal is, as van Nistelrooy put it, to have the foundation of the squad built on those who have come up through the

ranks, rather than having academy graduates sprinkled throughout the side. It really feels like City are getting closer to that. It’s hard to imagine this was the season the club’s run of

having an academy graduate in every matchday squad ended after five years and 10 months, a streak of 288 games, last October. Because on the final day of the season, seven of the 20 squad

members were academy-trained: Stolarczyk, Aluko, Monga, Evans, Luke Thomas, Kasey McAteer, and Sammy Braybrooke. There’s not just those seven who could be permanent fixtures in the

first-team squad next term. Ben Nelson, as long as he’s not sold, looks on course to be a starter. Will Alves will be in contention. Hamza Choudhury may stick around after his loan at

Sheffield United. The likes of Wanya Marcal and Brandon Cover will return from loan spells too. The likes of Tom Wilson-Brown and Henry Cartwright have been in Premier League matchday squads

this season. Louis Page has been starting for England Under-17s this month. A lot of those are young players and not all of them will be ready, but being in the Championship gives City

greater opportunities to show trust in them. The club need to be brave. Last weekend, there was the perfect chance to start Monga. Yes, Bournemouth are strong on the flanks, and yes, van

Nistelrooy was not given many incentives to look to the future because of the lack of talks on his position, but in a dead-rubber like that, the 15-year-old should not have been overlooked

for a left-back playing out of position in Victor Kristiansen. Earlier this year, the CIES Football Observatory published a list of the clubs across England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France

that had developed the most big-five league players since 2005. Fifteen English clubs made the top 100, which included all those that had had at least 26 players graduate and play in the

top divisions. There was no place for City on the list. But they’re now moving into an era where that can change. There was only one Midlands club on the list – Aston Villa – so it’s not

that the region’s best kids are being snapped up by every other club. They have the location and the facilities – and recent success suggests the coaching set-up – to be one of the most

prolific producers of top-flight players. It would be great, and it’s something the club should ultimately strive for, for City to become one of the famed academies in the country, like

those at Manchester United, Arsenal, and West Ham. If they did, it would provide a permanent source of pride for supporters too, and would make them feel more connected with the club. They

look to be on that path and there could be a real milestone next season. There’s potential for City to field a matchday squad where half of the players have come up through their academy. It

would be a satisfying moment for everybody associated with the club. WHICH HOMEGROWN PLAYERS ARE YOU MOST EXCITED TO SEE NEXT SEASON? CLICK HERE TO HAVE YOUR SAY. GET YOUR SPECIAL JAMIE

VARDY EDITION OF THE LEICESTER MERCURY It was certainly a fairytale ending to Jamie Vardy's Leicester City career - netting his 200th goal in his final match for the club. To celebrate,

we are launching a this special edition of the Leicester Mercury where we look back at the striker's amazing career - his journey from non-league to England international, his greatest

goals and where he stands in the Foxes' list of all-time greats. We also revisit the trophy-winning campaigns - the 2021 FA Cup and, of course, the 2016 Premier League title. And there

are plenty of tributes from those who played with him, against him and worked with him. Jamie Vardy, it's certainly been a party! GET YOUR COPY HERE BUY NOW AND HAVE IT DELIVERED

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