Which academy player are you most excited about for 2022/23?
An easy one for me: Sammy Braybrooke. He’s my Mum’s godson, so I actually grew up playing football in our garden with him and his three brothers when they were very young.
Bias aside, Sammy is a really exciting prospect. He won our academy player of the season last time out, and is one of only three academy lads invited on the first team’s pre-season camp to Evian (alongside Ben Nelson and Will Alves).
In terms of playing style, the closest comparison I can draw is to Jorginho: a defensive midfielder with a low centre of gravity who always wants the ball. He likes to get stuck in and has an excellent passing range, so I’m sure we’ll be seeing him introduced to senior football this season, whether that’s out on loan or with us.
Charlie Carmichael
As I’m sure many others will say, it’s Sammy Braybrooke. He looks like Savage. It sounds like he plays more like a mix of Lennon and Izzet.
I haven’t seen a huge amount of him but to have a local Leicester lad captaining England Under 18s, where he plays alongside his club colleagues, Ben Nelson and Kian Pennant, clearly bodes well for the future.
We’ve seen the buzz Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has generated among our supporters and that must give the Academy players such a boost.
David Bevan
Long term, it’s Sammy Braybrooke. But we’ve seen with Harvey Barnes and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall that Leicester like to take it slow with the best prospects. I expect to see the same thing with Braybrooke; a couple of loans before he really gets a chance.
It feels like there is a decent batch of youngsters in Braybrooke’s age group but we might have to wait a couple of years to see them break through. For now, Callum Wright has been part of the squad in pre-season. He’s older and more experienced, and is about the age at which you have to put up or shut up as far as becoming part of the senior squad is concerned.
James Knight
I remember seeing Tawanda Jethro Maswanhise in pre-season last summer and immediately thinking 'FLAIR'. Given our obvious dearth of wide options right now, I'm still not-so-secretly hoping that he'll suddenly burst onto the scene next season like a glorious ray of light. It won't happen of course, but a year older, we can hope.
Joe Brewin
One of the only upsides to how our season petered out is that we have seen a few of the younger players given a debut, or at least a place in the squad. Based on the glimpses we got last year, I’m most excited for Will Alves. I’d also like to see more of Tawanda Maswanhise.
Practically speaking and given our seemingly permanent shortage of centre-backs, it would be great to see Ben Nelson make a step up from the development squad. He’s been in the system for a while and people always speak highly of him. My memory is hazy on when we last produced an academy graduate centre-back who could slot into the first team so I’d like to see him given a chance.
In the two games we did get to see Lewis Brunt, he looked incredibly calm and composed. It would be great if he could build on his development player of the year award and get some first-team opportunities. Given the trust that Brendan Rodgers put in Kiernan-Dewsbury Hall, the blueprint for achieving success is right there for the academy and development squad prospects to follow.
Helen Nutter
With the likes of Sammy Braybrooke and Will Alves coming through the youth ranks, there's plenty to be optimistic about our academy products. However, the player I'm most excited about is centre-back, Ben Nelson.
He's been heavily linked with both Manchester clubs and was one of several Leicester teens to appear for the England U18s this summer - the 18-year-old is clearly held in high regard.
If we can offload Caglar Soyuncu or Jannik Vestergaard (hopefully both), it would be interesting to see if Nelson is integrated into the first-team picture. I would prefer him to be given an opportunity in the cup matches than Daniel Amartey. If not, a loan move to a League One/Championship side would be a good step towards his development.
Dante Clarke
I'm hoping that Jakub Stolarczyk won't be with our development squad much this season, as I have extremely high hopes for him. He seems to have learned a lot training with some fantastic keepers, and it looks to have served him well on loan at Dunfermline at the back end of last season.
Another loan spell away this season, preferably at a higher level, would do wonders for his development. Give it a couple of years, and there's no reason he couldn't be challenging for the number 1 jersey.
Poland has an immense history of breeding excellent goalkeepers, and hopefully Stolarczyk can be the next in the long line.
Ryan Hubbard