Development/Youth Squads 2025/2026 Thread - U18/U21

[Ric Flair]

7 hours ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

Hi Ric. So who's judgement do we take. Yours or a professional manager who works with the players 24/7.

I certainly wouldn't recommend my judgement, but neither would I recommend Marti's. You should reserve judgement and look for evidence on whether the decision making is sensible or not. He had a howler with Nelson and admitted as such, that there were some academy players who deserved minutes but he'd got too many senior players he had to play when available. Whiffy that is.

[Tommy Fresh]

8 hours ago, Long Eaton Fox said:

People calling for Evans starting, have you ever seen him play.  Monga  silko Fatawu Mavadidi are in front of him according to Marti.  Aluko has done ok, page has improved since August  and now challenging for a place. They see him everyday and we have to accept their judgements.

By this logic you also think Rodgers was right to play Ward 

[lcfc sheff]

Otchere to go out on loan and Hutchinson to be moved up to U21s I reckon is the plan 

[honeybradger]

37 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

Otchere to go out on loan and Hutchinson to be moved up to U21s I reckon is the plan 

Otchere has only just found his footing in u21s football, would be a bit harsh on him in my opinion.

[LcFc_Smiv]

I remember there being rumours previously around Forest, if this is to be believed, others are taking interest.

 

https://thepeoplesperson.com/2026/01/10/lorenz-hutchinson-man-united-and-real-madrid-in-contact-with-leicester-wonderkid-303516/

[Chelmofox]

I would like for us to have seen Evans yesterday. But out of all the youth players, he is the one that showed the least with the chances he has been given. We know as a forward it can just click one day and the pressure on you is different.  The problem is im not sure where he gets his chances from here. Probably has to be a loan.

 

Its kind of odd that Marti gets criticised for using Ayew exactly how most of us think he should be - to see out the game.  Life as a football fan!

Edited 11 January by Chelmofox

[Chelmofox]

6 minutes ago, LcFc_Smiv said:

I remember there being rumours previously around Forest, if this is to be believed, others are taking interest.

 

https://thepeoplesperson.com/2026/01/10/lorenz-hutchinson-man-united-and-real-madrid-in-contact-with-leicester-wonderkid-303516/

Quote

Furthermore, they are thought to be in “constant contact” with the player’s representatives. 

Sometimes i really hate this sport.

[happy85]

16 minutes ago, LcFc_Smiv said:

I remember there being rumours previously around Forest, if this is to be believed, others are taking interest.

 

https://thepeoplesperson.com/2026/01/10/lorenz-hutchinson-man-united-and-real-madrid-in-contact-with-leicester-wonderkid-303516/

The player agent leaking these stories 

 

all part and parcel of contract negotiations 

[ALC Fox]

5 minutes ago, LcFc_Smiv said:

I remember there being rumours previously around Forest, if this is to be believed, others are taking interest.

 

https://thepeoplesperson.com/2026/01/10/lorenz-hutchinson-man-united-and-real-madrid-in-contact-with-leicester-wonderkid-303516/

With our academy bringing through multiple top talents at the same time, one thing I guess we need to get used to is that we won't keep all of them until the club decides either they're not actually good enough or that we're ready to get a top fee for them.

 

From a fans perspective, I'd say most of us want as many of them in the first team as possible, but we may lose a few of these kids far too early for our liking.

 

The links are encouraging. We see them doing well in youth football and we get excited. They find the route to the first team tough to break into because of a bloated squad and managers who prefer experience to burgeoning talent. But it's good to know that other clubs are taking an interest. It's confirmation that we can believe our own eyes and that we can reasonably think that if these boys do get a chance, they might be able to succeed here.

 

Thankfully, we're now in a position where more of them are getting a chance. Hutchinson's situation, though, is puzzling in isolation. Otchere is doing well at U21 level. I agree with the call that if Otchere is thriving then he needs men's football either in our first team (we need a striker so why not?) or in League One or Two and then Hutchinson can get a chance to step up at U21 level on a regular basis. But it is currently puzzling why so many of our young players are being promoted early, yet Hutchinson is thriving as a 17-year-old for the U18s and not being given a regular chance at a higher level as a rotation option for Otchere and Richards.

 

If we can move on some of the players who definitely aren't going to make it here (Richards, Wanya, etc.) then maybe the pathway opens up for him here. But while he's finding the route to the first team blocked, interest from the likes of Man Utd and Real will be even more attractive to him than it ordinarily would.

[lcfc sheff]

47 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Otchere has only just found his footing in u21s football, would be a bit harsh on him in my opinion.

Harsh or perhaps the making of him? A taste of men’s football 

[Ric Flair]

51 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I would like for us to have seen Evans yesterday. But out of all the youth players, he is the one that showed the least with the chances he has been given. We know as a forward it can just click one day and the pressure on you is different.  The problem is im not sure where he gets his chances from here. Probably has to be a loan.

 

Its kind of odd that Marti gets criticised for using Ayew exactly how most of us think he should be - to see out the game.  Life as a football fan!

I presume you mean in pre-season? I agree that he did not do much last summer but under Van Nistelrooy his PL cameos were a mix of not being on the pitch long enough to have an impact or did competently at a level higher than we are now.

 

His PL2 record breaking exploits should not go unnoticed either.

[ramadaone]

11 hours ago, honeybradger said:

Well that's clearly nonsense because Hutchinson has already played U21s football this season and showed he can play well at that level even when not on the scoresheet.

 

Think someone like Vardy, he's not always involved but when he is he usually makes the right decision.

Quite clearly nonsense ???

He played for the 21's and got dropped back down to the 18's

You might think he can play at that level from a watching a few clips on YouTube but obviously the coaches do not 

 

 

 

 

[ramadaone]

JCA came on as sub again for the u18's yesterday whilst still only being an u15

 

[Collymore]

It's just so illogical and annoying. 

 

1. We're desperate for a goal scorer and it looks like we're not going to be able to sign anyone decent. Evans is the most prolific player not only at our club at development level, but in the whole development league recently. 

 

2. Marcel and Ayew are likely to be leaving at the end of the season, yes, Ayew should be still a member of the first team coming on and seeing out games, but Marcel should be no where near the squad if he's off soon. 

 

3. We know what S.Thomas brings. A bit of pace and he looks okay but what's this obsession with him over Evans all the time? I wonder if because he's "A Chelsea youth" we're somehow clinging to the hope he'll have more resale value maybe? It's the only logical explanation I can think of. 

 

It really winds me up as one of the clubs priorities to improve (and there's lots of them) is to score more goals and sort a striker and they don't think it's even an idea to try our prolific young attacker. 

 

What's even more annoying is when you see countless other clubs playing 16/17 yo players who are bagging and we have the best of the lot but we still bring on Ayew and start Daka! 

 

We deserve to be liquidated. 

 

Edited 11 January by Collymore

[Collymore]

12 minutes ago, ramadaone said:

Quite clearly nonsense ???

He played for the 21's and got dropped back down to the 18's

You might think he can play at that level from a watching a few clips on YouTube but obviously the coaches do not 

 

 

 

 

The coaches are s**t. 

 

Marti and Calm more worried about their CV than taking a chance more like. 

Edited 11 January by Collymore

[honeybradger]

6 minutes ago, ramadaone said:

Quite clearly nonsense ???

He played for the 21's and got dropped back down to the 18's

You might think he can play at that level from a watching a few clips on YouTube but obviously the coaches do not 

 

 

 

 

I have seen him play at Seagrave, he has played well at U21 level when given the opportunity.

 

You surely dont take the opinion of our youth coaches at face value when our first team coaches have made blunder after blunder in recent memory such as playing Danny Ward for half a season ahead of Iversen, Faes and Coady getting favoured over Nelson etc. Blunders that the average fan could see a mile away.

 

They also gave Kirsten Otchere a lot of games time at u21 level who has only just found his footing at that level despite looking far more out of depth initially than Hutchinson has done in his limited minutes.

 

There's a reason that scouts from big clubs are going to our u18 games to watch him.

[Chelmofox]

50 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

I presume you mean in pre-season? I agree that he did not do much last summer but under Van Nistelrooy his PL cameos were a mix of not being on the pitch long enough to have an impact or did competently at a level higher than we are now.

 

His PL2 record breaking exploits should not go unnoticed either.

Yes - agree with all of that. Page and Aluko really stood out in preseason, Evans didn't. That understandably has a knock on effect during the season.

 

I am sure his PL2 record wont go unnoticed and i'm sure its just a matter of time.  I suppose the difficulty is weighing up that right time. It should have been yesterday, or maybe 20 mins against a L2 team parking the bus a bit wasnt it?

 

I really think Martii needed to see that game out yesterday which is why he turned to Ayew (before anyone has a go at me - im VERY critical of Ayew and dont want him near the first team). Its just ironic that was probably the best use of Ayew.

[1972 Fox]

38 minutes ago, ramadaone said:

JCA came on as sub again for the u18's yesterday whilst still only being an u15

 

Who is JCA?

[Collymore]

2 minutes ago, 1972 Fox said:

Who is JCA?

Plastic. 

Edited 11 January by Collymore

[coolhandfox]

2 hours ago, honeybradger said:

I have seen him play at Seagrave, he has played well at U21 level when given the opportunity.

 

You surely dont take the opinion of our youth coaches at face value when our first team coaches have made blunder after blunder in recent memory such as playing Danny Ward for half a season ahead of Iversen, Faes and Coady getting favoured over Nelson etc. Blunders that the average fan could see a mile away.

 

They also gave Kirsten Otchere a lot of games time at u21 level who has only just found his footing at that level despite looking far more out of depth initially than Hutchinson has done in his limited minutes.

 

There's a reason that scouts from big clubs are going to our u18 games to watch him.

Not sure you hang those on the youth level coaches.

 

They seem to doing a pretty decent job.

[honeybradger]

9 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Not sure you hang those on the youth level coaches.

 

They seem to doing a pretty decent job.

Im not saying that first team blunders are on the youth coaches, just examples in general of Leicester coaches getting it wrong whilst the consensus opinion among fans is correct.

 

It's just easier to use examples from the first team as I am more familiar with them but I think the logic applies that the coaches dont always make the right decisions and that just because the coaches have decided to hold Hutchinson back a level doesnt mean it's the right choice.

[coolhandfox]

2 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Im not saying that first team blunders are on the youth coaches, just examples in general of Leicester coaches getting it wrong whilst the consensus opinion among fans is correct.

 

It's just easier to use examples from the first team as I am more familiar with them but I think the logic applies that the coaches dont always make the right decisions and that just because the coaches have decided to hold Hutchinson back a level doesnt mean it's the right choice.

Doesn't mean it the wrong one ethier.

 

We seem to have a health conveyor belt of youngsters coming thought, I think the biggest issue is the pathway thought to the first team 

[Aleksz]

2 hours ago, 1972 Fox said:

Who is JCA?

Joseph Colangelo-Allen I would assume. 

[Chelmofox]

21 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Im not saying that first team blunders are on the youth coaches, just examples in general of Leicester coaches getting it wrong whilst the consensus opinion among fans is correct.

 

It's just easier to use examples from the first team as I am more familiar with them but I think the logic applies that the coaches dont always make the right decisions and that just because the coaches have decided to hold Hutchinson back a level doesnt mean it's the right choice.

Now - come on   You have to remember that the academy players are growing kids, many still at school who get paid a tiny fraction of the first team. You can see from Monga that he was able to make an impact in certain scenarios, but you've already got fans saying he isn't playing well enough when in fact he he is adapting to doing more with his game. I would argue Monga is learning more at the moment than when he was skinning PL defenders in the 80th minute last season.  Their pathway is incremental and needs to be based on learning and what is right for them. Those around them know them best.  We aren't 'right' demanding Evans should start, but we would love to see it and see him grow into a success. However, we have no idea what the situation around the player is like, and the reasons why even yesterday it was deemed not the right time.  

 

I liked watching Page both yesterday but also actually mostly when he came on against Derby. He looked a lot more confident and assured than when he was playing earlier in the season.  I can't help but think we may have got it right - protecting him a bit but also giving him chances when the opportunity arose. I dont think he can feel hard done by.

[Aleksz]

Gonna have to disagree with some of the above re: Hutchinson. It’s clear he’s out grown 18s football in the same way Evans has 21s. Both need to step up.