Man City 'monitor' Leicester City teenager pushing for first-team debut

Manchester City are said to be tracking the progress of young Leicester City centre-back Ben Nelson.

The Premier League winners are, according to the Daily Mail, looking to recruit more homegrown talent with Brexit rules affecting transfers and are keeping a keen eye on 18-year-old Nelson following his quick progress through the ranks at City.

Nelson has been highly thought of at the club for some time, and has been in the senior matchday squad on eight occasions, his first appearance on the bench coming when he was just 16. Last season, he was named the academy player of the year at City and he featured heavily in pre-season last summer as Brendan Rodgers took a closer look at him.

This term, he started 19 of the club’s 26 Premier League 2 fixtures, while he has been included in the England Under-18s set-up, having changed allegiance from Scotland. He will travel to Zagreb this week, alongside fellow City youngsters Sammy Braybrooke and Kian Pennant, as the Young Lions take on their counterparts from Austria, Wales, and Croatia.

Despite those appearances on the substitutes’ bench, and despite City’s injury crisis at centre-back this season, Rodgers was reluctant to throw Nelson in for a first-team debut. When Jonny Evans hobbled off a few minutes into the win over Newcastle in December, Rodgers tasked Wilfred Ndidi with filling in at the back rather than turn to Nelson.

A few days later, Rodgers said: “What’s really important is you can deter a young player in his career if you put them in too early. It’s not just about having young players available, they have to have the right qualities and be at the right stage. They have to have the right temperament and mentality to be given the opportunity, otherwise you can put