The new Leicester City boss is keeping his word by scouting development squad players who could make the first team.
Enzo Maresca is scouting Leicester City’s brightest young players to see whether they can make the move up to his Championship squad.
Over the first week of pre-season, the new manager, who has been hailed for his work in nurturing Manchester City’s young players, has brought a number of possibilities from the development group into first-team training. They will try to attract the Italian’s attention as he develops a club capable of regaining promotion to the Premier League.
On Monday, a couple of the young players returned to Seagrave alongside their senior colleagues for the first team’s first day of testing, while others have been called up to join them after being back at City’s offices since last week.
So far, ten development squad players have been identified. They are goalkeepers Jakub Stolarczyk and Brad Young, midfielder Zach Booth, attacking midfielders/wingers Kasey McAteer, Tawanda Maswanhise, and Wanya Marcal-Madivadua, and striker George Hirst.
It’s hardly surprising that the majority of players involved are centre-backs, central midfielders, or wingers, as these are the three positions Manchester City are aiming to bolster before the season starts next month. If someone can persuade Maresca, the club will avoid entering the transfer market.
When asked about the likelihood of promoting young players to his first team during his news conference on Monday, Maresca said, “Absolutely, yeah, there’s no doubt about it.” They’d previously told me that some of them are quite talented, so we’ll go visit them, test them, and if they’re truly good, we’ll keep them and offer them a chance to join our squad.”
However, Maresca does not yet have the opportunity to assess two of City’s most highly-rated talents. Attacking midfielder Will Alves and deep-lying midfielder Sammy Braybrooke are both still on the comeback trail from ACL injuries suffered in the winter.
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