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Nicolo Barella

Hamza Choudhury the Trailblazer

By Nicolo Barella, in Leicester City Forum

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Plastik Man

Plastik Man

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, lcfcsnow said:

He needs to play games, even before he came into the side this season he’d been in and out of the u23s, could have done with a loan in January.

When Puel suggested this he was slaughtered!

 

He should really have gone on loan back in September but I'm sure someone on here said he preferred to stay as his partner had just had their first baby? Which is fair enough.

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StriderHiryu

StriderHiryu

Posted
Posted
19 hours ago, Farrington fox said:

Bit worried for this lad. I’d have thought he would be on the bench. Is his disappearance due only to the arrival of Tielemans or has he regressed. Hope he features soon!

We've switched systems to having two attacking midfielders and have 3 defensive midfielders in the squad in Ndidi, Mendy and Hamza, of which Ndidi is our clear starter Mendy is as of right now the better player than Hamza due to his experience. Hamza has suffered due to Tielemans coming in, but YT has added another dimension to the team so I don't think anyone in the camp can say it's been a bad idea to bring him in. Even if we can't sign YT, it shows an obvious position we need to sign and the benefit it will provide the team. And Hamza is not an attacking midfielder that has creative qualities. Not yet at least, though perhaps he can add this to his game. 

I think that with the style of play Rodgers wants us to play that we will need players in the squad with great engines and tackling capabilities, of which Hamza has both. So whilst he might not be a starter or even on the bench, I could definitely see him playing in a number of games as next season progresses. But is that enough for the player? That I'm not sure of as we've seen the massive progress Harvey Barnes made after going out on loan and playing every week. Right now Hamza looks like a definite squad player for the club but it will remain to be seen if he can force his way into being a guaranteed starter every week.

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lcfc sheff

lcfc sheff

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Posted

One of the better pressers we have so I’ll be shocked if Rodgers doesn’t give him a chance, ideally we play a diamond in midfield of:

 

            Maddison 

       Youri         Hamza

               Ndidi

 

Vardy and Barnes upfront, Okazaki and Gray off the bench for whatever player. 

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brucey

brucey

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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/12389604-4cbb-11e9-9ce9-2870f730ce44

 

Hamza Choudhury: Meet the Leicester starlet hoping to be first British Asian to play for England

 

Leicester City midfielder Hamza Choudhury says it’s no tougher for players of his ethnic group than anyone else in football, Oliver Kay writes

 

At Leicester City there is a story they like to tell about Hamza Choudhury. It involves one of his first training sessions at the club’s youth academy and a coach having to apologise for the trail of destruction that the seven-year-old left behind him, throwing himself into tackles with an exuberance that terrified some of his peers and indeed their parents.

The 21-year-old laughs as he tries to cast his mind back. “I don’t remember it too vividly,” he says. “I think I was just bigger than all the other kids back then. Heavy-footed, heavy-handed.”

Everything about the young Choudhury set him apart: not just his size but his talent, his energy and, in particular, his ethnicity. The distinctive hairstyle came later (“even though my mum always used to try to make me get it cut”) but, even at that age, he stood out as a British-Asian boy with a rare gift for football. Fourteen years on, as a British-Asian player with 13 Premier League appearances and five England Under-21 caps to his name, he stands out even more.

 

There are more than 4 million people of South Asian origin living in England, but Choudhury is the only one playing in the Premier League. In fact, there are only a handful playing across the top four divisions. Neil Taylor, the Aston Villa and Wales full back, has a Bengali mother; Danny Batth, the Stoke City defender, is of Punjabi heritage, as is Mansfield Town’s Malvind Benning; Otis Khan, also at Mansfield, is of Pakistani origin. There is excitement about Swansea City’s Yan Dhandha (Indian heritage) and Aston Villa’s Easah Suliman (Pakistani heritage), who have both played for England at youth level, but for now Choudhury, whose father is from Grenada but whose mother and stepfather are Bangladeshi, stands alone in the Premier League.

 

If that sounds like a daunting responsibility for a 21-year-old, as a role model to all those British-Asian boys and girls who are inspired by the sight of him on Match of the Day, he wears it lightly.

“A few people have said that and it’s really nice to be recognised in that way,” he says. “It’s encouraging that people will take it in that way.” Zesh Rehman, who played for Fulham, Queens Park Rangers and others in the mid-2000s, knows how it feels to be the standard-bearer for a community.

“It’s great to see Hamza getting into the Leicester team and hopefully that can inspire a few more lads to break through and follow in his footsteps,” the 35-year-old, who is playing and coaching in Hong Kong, says.

“The floodgates haven’t exactly opened since I was playing in England, but I think we’re at a different stage now. There are kids born here now whose grandparents were born here. They and their families are more ingrained in the culture now. That will help.”

 

Choudhury is a case in point. He says that his social circles, growing up on the outskirts of Leicester, were “very mixed — probably more white than anything”.

“Leicester is quite a multicultural city,” he says. “You get people from everywhere. Everyone feels so comfortable with each other, with so many different cultures and religions and people from all over the world, so everyone really feels comfortable and safe.”

He grew up in what he calls an “Asian household — all fun and games, everyone laughing all the time and always a house full of people”. He describes his family as “very religious” and he worships at his local mosque “as much as I can”, even though the life of a professional footballer is not always conducive to that. “People have their own opinions and views on religion, but in our culture it’s very much to do with respecting each other and having morals and ways and living by them,”
he says.

 

That culture is one that, traditionally, places far greater emphasis on education than on pursuing the remote possibility of a career in professional football. “I can understand why parents in general — not just Asian parents — are a bit unsure about putting their kids downs down that route,” Choudhury says.

“If you think about it, it’s a massive gamble to put your whole life solely into something like football and give everything for a number of years when there’s a risk that, at the end of it, you’ll get told you’re not good enough. Parents just want the best for their kids.

“The education side is massively important. You can’t take anything for granted in life. Hopefully not — touch wood — but I could get injured tomorrow and never play football again. If that happened, I would still have my BTEC [gained through his scholarship at Leicester] and coaching to fall back on, but you can never be too sure.

“They [his parents] have been so supportive and so helpful, coming to watch all the games right from the start. It can’t have been easy to take me to training all the time when it was 5.30pm and they’ve just finished work and have got to get me through Leicester city-centre traffic, but they’ve been such a big part of it.

“It’s amazing, the number of hours they must have spent driving me around, taking me to football, waiting around, bringing me back. I know I’m very lucky. If it wasn’t my parents, it was my uncle and I’ve got a few cousins around my age too and they’ve always been really supportive too.”

 

Has he encountered racial abuse? “I had it one time when I was playing an academy game, an away game for the under-10s, I think it was,” he says. “That was a parent. At such a young age, you’re not used to hearing bad language like that coming out of someone’s mouth, so obviously that hurt at the time, but it was dealt with. It happened, we reported it and the people got dealt with.

“My mum was really good with me. She let me know when I was growing up that stuff like that might happen at some point. She didn’t want me to walk into the world of football totally blind. As bad as it is, as backward as it is, it happens. It tests you, something like that. It’s the way you deal with it that’s important.

“There have been other Asian boys in the academy here. There was one who lived not far from me who was here until under-14s. Another Asian boy was here for a year or so and then he went to Northampton, I think. There are others in the game — I’ve played against Easah at Aston Villa — but no, there aren’t many and I do think that can make it a bit tougher for Asian players to try to motivate themselves and believe they’ve actually got a fair chance of playing at this level.”

 

Even getting to academy level can be hard enough. Last year, Dr Dan Kilvington, a senior lecturer in media, communication and cultures at Leeds Beckett University, anonymously quoted a white scout at a professional club as saying: “They [Asians] don’t like physical contact. I think that’s their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact.”

The scout in question clearly cannot have watched Choudhury in action, particularly his performances in Leicester’s victories over Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton over Christmas. Certain preconceptions persist, though. Those preconceptions exist about young English footballers in any case — the products of the modern academy system routinely dismissed as “too soft” to start matches in the Premier League — and it is reasonable to assume that it is harder still for a young Asian player to make the breakthrough.

 

Adil Nabi, who played alongside Jordan Pickford and Raheem Sterling for England at under-15 and under-16 level, was named in West Bromwich Albion’s match-day squad in the Premier League on several occasions but was unable to make the breakthrough at first-team level and is now, aged 25, looking to revive his career with OFI Crete in the Greek Super League. Asked whether he feels it was especially hard for him to fulfil his potential, as a player of Pakistani origin, he says: “It would be silly to say otherwise. You can only sink or swim if you’re given that chance. It’s hard enough for a white boy to get that chance, so imagine how hard it is for an Asian boy.”

Choudhury says he has never felt disadvantaged owing to his ethnicity? “No, never,” he says. “My family wouldn’t let me think that way and Leicester, as a club, wouldn’t ever make anyone feel that way. I just used to come along and enjoy it.

“I’m quite a straightforward person. If I want to try to do something, I’m just going to give it all my all. I think some people can tie themselves in knots mentally before they’ve even give it a go if they think, ‘I’ve got no chance.’ I don’t really know how best to explain it, but if you really just believe in yourself and you think that everyone is on a level playing field, then you can give it everything.”

 

It must be easier to make the breakthrough if you are fortunate enough to be at one of those clubs — increasingly rare in the Premier League and the Sky Bet Championship — with a willingness to develop young talent. Choudhury is grateful to Claude Puel, Leicester’s former manager, for giving him the opportunity to break into the first-team squad. He has not figured in Brendan Rodgers’s first three games in charge, but is encouraged by everything he has seen and heard so from the new manager.

 

Choudhury also talks about drawing inspiration from Ben Chilwell breaking into the Leicester team before him and how the progression of players such as Chilwell, Jadon Sancho and Callum Hudson-Odoi gives him the belief that he too can use the England Under-21 team as a stepping stone to the senior squad. He was part of the England team that won the Toulon Tournament last summer and won his fifth under-21 cap against Poland on Thursday evening. His overriding focus is on Leicester, but naturally he hopes one day to become the first British-Asian player to represent England. “There is no bigger achievement in football than representing your country,” he says.

In the same way that he feels inspired by the young players, he knows that boys and girls in the British-Asian community, particularly in Leicester, feel inspired by his progress. He is one of their own.

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fuchsntf

fuchsntf

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1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Not only is he a fantastic talent, the way he talks about life and the game is top drawer. He is a classy young man and I hope he gets enough of a chance to make it here. I’d be tempted to start him vs Bournemouth and rest Ndidi.

Yes, now is the time to show the other squad players,that they can get their chances.

If we can see more of Choudry and Soyuncu,in this EOS run-in,it will also show the fans  that BRodgers,is really looking through the talent that our squad holds

 

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nwl fox

nwl fox

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Reading that  article its clear he has a great attitude. I also thought he was excellent when he came on for the u21's on Thursday, the way he reads the game sets him ahead of others for me. I do hope BR finds room to give him a few more run outs in the first team soon because I think this boy could be another with a big future and it would be great to see him make the break through at our club. 

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dyanmark

dyanmark

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Interesting point in there about the physical  contact . Tradiitions are there around hockey ,cricket,badminton  that point to different races being more suited to their more popular sports. I can recall playing mens hockey in a fairly robust way and the Asian lads weren't too happy but also back then some of the predominately Asian local football teams got a reputation for being very aggressive.

Hamza needs game time -somewhere

 

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Guest

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1 minute ago, dyanmark said:

Interesting point in there about the physical  contact . Tradiitions are there around hockey ,cricket,badminton  that point to different races being more suited to their more popular sports. I can recall playing mens hockey in a fairly robust way and the Asian lads weren't too happy but also back then some of the predominately Asian local football teams got a reputation for being very aggressive.

Hamza needs game time -somewhere

 

I think it's simply a racist idea - please be clear I don't think you are just the idea about Asians not wanting contact. Wrestling has plenty of contact - it just so happens that Rugby, American Football and football were not particularly asian sports.

 

Hamza thrives on contact.

 

His motor is amazing but the area I feel he is so far ahead of most professional footballers is his reading of the game and football cleverness.

 

I am so surprised that Rodgers hasn't had him in instead of Mendy - who I like a lot too. He's 21, he needs to be in the team. 

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nwl fox

nwl fox

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Posted
1 hour ago, FIF said:

I think it's simply a racist idea - please be clear I don't think you are just the idea about Asians not wanting contact. Wrestling has plenty of contact - it just so happens that Rugby, American Football and football were not particularly asian sports.

 

Hamza thrives on contact.

 

His motor is amazing but the area I feel he is so far ahead of most professional footballers is his reading of the game and football cleverness.

 

I am so surprised that Rodgers hasn't had him in instead of Mendy - who I like a lot too. He's 21, he needs to be in the team. 

I think BR has recognised that with such a young team he needs to find a balance of some experience in their too. So he's keeping the team young but stacking the bench with the more experienced players because of what they can bring to the dressing room

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Jaspa

Jaspa

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17 hours ago, brucey said:

Dr Dan Kilvington, a senior lecturer in media, communication and cultures at Leeds Beckett University, anonymously quoted a white scout at a professional club as saying: “They [Asians] don’t like physical contact. I think that’s their problem. Why are they good at cricket? Why are they absolutely exceptional at squash? Why do they not participate in any other sports where there is physical contact.” 

This idiot has clearly never heard of Kabbadi

 

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Gamble92

Gamble92

Posted
Posted
On 01/02/2019 at 12:07, StriderHiryu said:

The only British player with asian (sub-continent) heritage that I know of who played in the Premier League and for England (youth level) is Michael Chopra who used to play for Newcastle.

You dont have to explain to anyone on here who Michael Chopra is...

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Tom12345

Tom12345

Posted
Posted (edited)

Good to see Hamza making an appearance last game. But it seems from the latest comments from Rogers that he will need to wait for a while for a more established role under Rogers, especially with Ndidi and Tielemans playing so well (I still think Hamza would combine better with Tielemans and Maddison in the middle especially attacking-wise).

 

Do you think he has been rather unlucky? It seems that he was just starting to get more game time under Puel (same as Mendy), then unluckily just before Rogers got appointed, he was left out of squad. When Rogers took over, it seems he wanted status quo first (I think he would have picked Mendy instead of Ndidi therefore if Mendy did not get injured and was replaced by Ndidi during the last (or second last) game Puel was in charge).  So would Hamza have gotten more

game time under Rogers had he been in squad just when Rogers took over? Seems like a steep hill now for him to climb whilst others have had the advantage of being able to showcase their talents during actual games and they obviously took it with both hands.

 

 

Edited by Tom12345
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