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davieG

Ex Players - They used to play for us

By davieG, in Leicester City Forum

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davieG

davieG

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https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/five-leicester-citys-brightest-prospects-8629211

 

Five of Leicester City's brightest prospects and where they are now
Harvey Barnes will be remembered as one of the best-ever players produced by City, but what happened to some of the other academy talents that showed early promise?


SPORT
ByJordan Blackwell
07:00, 26 JUL 2023
 

Harvey Barnes is no longer a Leicester City player but as an academy graduate, he will always be connected to the club. He is probably the best player to come out of City’s youth set-up since Emile Heskey.

City’s academy has grown more successful in the past few years, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Luke Thomas, and Hamza Choudhury are three graduates still in the first-team squad, but there have also been plenty of players who looked promising but didn’t have a career at the club.

Some fell out with managers, some turned down contracts, some had their talents overlooked, some were released after failing to kick on. Here’s a look at five City academy players from the past 15 years and where they’ve got to in their careers.

 

Max Gradel

Max Gradel’s last-second free-kick against MK Dons is one of the stand-out memories from City’s League One title win that started the upward surge culminating in the Premier League trophy.

Back then, Gradel was a super-confident 21-year-old, a thrilling talent to emerge from City’s academy, one full of speed and stepovers. Now, he’s 35 and this week joined his seventh permanent club.

The Ivorian’s career has seen him earn over 100 caps, win the Africa Cup of Nations, lift silverware in France and Turkey, and score more than 125 senior club goals. He's still got it too. Last term, he managed 20 goals and assists in all competitions for Sivasspor but has now penned a two-year deal with their Super Lig rivals Gaziantep.

 

Calvin Bassey

Another former City prospect who will soon be on the move is Calvin Bassey. The defender looks set to return to England with Fulham in an £18m switch from Ajax.

He is one that got away for City, let go before he had even made a first-team appearance. He moved to Rangers and while he did not make an instant impact, his development soared when switched from a left-back to a centre-back, earning a place in the Europa League team of the season as the Scottish giants finished runners-up.

That saw him make a £20m move to Ajax, but replicating his Rangers form in the Netherlands proved a tough ask, and he’s been told by the manager that, as things stand, he probably won’t play this season. And so, he’s heading to the Premier League.

 

Sidnei Tavares

There was a valiant attempt to keep Sidnei Tavares at City, Brendan Rodgers giving him first-team opportunities despite his age. When he made his Premier League debut, he became the 10th youngest player to feature in the division for the club.

But that was not enough to convince him to stick around and he instead joined Porto. Two years on, he is yet to make a senior appearance for the club, but the midfielder was a regular for their B team in the Portuguese second division last term. Now 21, he will hope to get a first-team opportunity.

 

Joe Dodoo

One of only three players to score a hat-trick on their City debut, along with Jeff Schlupp and Archie Gardiner, there were naturally big things expected of Joe Dodoo. A goal against West Ham to follow-up his treble at Bury added to the excitement.

But no more goals came. A loan spell at Bury that season didn’t work out and he left for Rangers at the end of the campaign. He spent three years there, but two out on loan, and has since had spells with Bolton, Ankara Keciorengucu, Wigan, Doncaster, and Burton, none for longer than a season. The 25-year-old left the Brewers at the end of last term and is now searching for a new club.

Harry Panayiotou

Harry Panayiotou also netted on his City debut, a late Championship winner against Leeds, and continued to score regularly for the club’s development squad in the following years. But another first-team opportunity never came.

Since then, he’s spent most of his career in the National League, with a 12-goal campaign for Aldershot in 2020-21 earning him a move to the Scottish Premiership with Livingston. However, that was short-lived and he returned to Aldershot, where he spent the past 18 months before being released this summer. The 28-year-old is now on the hunt for a new club.

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eblair

eblair

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On 10/07/2023 at 22:05, Arkie Bennett said:

Demarai Gray, as I type this, playing for Jamaica against Guatemala.

Just worked out (could be wrong), he is going to be the only representative of our 2016 PL medal winners to play in the prem this year

I AM WRONG

 

Thank god for jeffrey 

 

Edited by eblair
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davieG

davieG

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Forest Green Rovers’ trialist centre-back against West Bromwich Albion was Darnell Johnson.

The 24-year-old defender was released from Fleetwood Town at the close of the 2022/23 season.

The former Leicester City youth product only made three appearances in his two-year spell with Fleetwood.

Johnson was also part of the side that won the Under-19 European Championship with England, alongside the likes of Aaron Ramsdale and Mason Mount

Amongst the low number of appearances for Fleetwood, Johnson did in fact score against Forest Green’s Gloucestershire rivals, Cheltenham Town in the 2021/22 season in a 3-2 victory.

Johnson spent many seasons in Premier League 2 with Leicester between the 16/17 and 20/21 seasons.


It would be said that Johnson had a very good game for the Rovers against West Brom, having scored a header from a corner and showing some great defensive qualities.

The defender has been known to get forward regularly, contributing to quite a few goals and assists with his previous clubs.

It would be a great bit of recruitment for Forest Green, providing some defensive cover with only having two recognised senior centre-backs in Jordan Moore-Taylor and Ryan Inniss.

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foxile5

foxile5

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On 29/07/2023 at 19:05, Matt said:

:ermm:

 

image.thumb.png.8e8bb77a29575f35549580770e8f48ec.png
 

No. :giggle: 

I was there. It was pathetic from him.

 

Lots of people provided the old 'he had hurt his shoulder' excuse but it's absolutely not the case. He shit it.

 

He's mentally fragile and not tough enough to be a captain. Even when he was in the England camp with us he folded at any form of criticism or less than optimal conditions. Needs constant reassurance and celebration - which doesn't make him a bad person but just indicates that a position where you'll be questioned and criticised isn't the most sensible position for him.

 

He was under pressure to stop giving the ball away and work hard up the flank and he walked around the KP like someone had spat in his face. Mentally suspect.

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Wymsey

Wymsey

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27 minutes ago, hebangsthedrums said:

Didn't realise he had done one - will habe a listen as I can do the LCFC related ones, but most are but a bit too 'ladbantz' for me...

 

But is it just me or does Matty look a bit unwell??

I heard that he likes his drink.

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Wymsey

Wymsey

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10 minutes ago, hebangsthedrums said:

Ha, yes. Not sure if you're being sarcastic but I thought that was an open secret - just looks like it might be catching up, albeit in fairness he's mid 50's

Nope.

Not sure if he still does, but he used to frequent the pubs around Desford, Botcheston and Markfield a lot.

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tom27111

tom27111

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1 hour ago, Wymsey said:

Nope.

Not sure if he still does, but he used to frequent the pubs around Desford, Botcheston and Markfield a lot.

He liked it when he played for us. As did the rest of the defenders.

 

Circa 1998, I pulled in to the Craddock Arms car park. Elliott, Sinclair, Taggart and Walsh were all stumbling right in front of the entrance and I nearly took them all out. I wasn't even driving fast.

 

To be fair, I was in a 1972 VW Beetle, I think my car would've come off worst.

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hackenbacker

hackenbacker

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Someone posted this on Facebook.  I thought it was funny.

 

Frank Worthing told the story of playing for England, midweek, under Sir Alf Ramsey. Sir Alf didn’t like Frank but was under peer pressure to give him a game, and Frank wasn’t fond of him either.
In the changing room before the game Sir Alf said to Frank ‘ I’ll pull you off at half time’ Frank replied ‘ Christ , at Leicester we only get oranges’ .
He was taken off after 35 minutes.

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UniFox21

UniFox21

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41 minutes ago, Matt said:

 

“A pride hit for us players” :giggle:

 

Do me a favour.
 

If only they had some pride in their performances last season.

 

PS - "We'll be absolutely fine"

 

The interview from that. 

 

Don't believe a word personally, he gave up, we all saw him give up.

 

I'm assuming no one forced him to leave, and had he actually wanted to stay we'd have found a way?

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StanSP

StanSP

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I don't think his disingenuous with what he says and it probably did hurt at the time, but I don't think he actually cares about it now. He got his move, he got his big wages secured. I bet he's not even that bothered whether we come up. He certainly didn't seem bothered enough to try and stop it happening. 

 

'I didn't want to leave on that sour note of relegation'. Well, you did. So that just seems hollow. No one held a gun to your head and forced you to move. 

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