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?
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’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.
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