Rodgers makes Leicester City commitment even with Luke Thomas route closed off

Brendan Rodgers is committed to promoting more Leicester City academy graduates into the first team, even if the path Luke Thomas took is now closed off.

Under Rodgers, left-back Thomas and central midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have risen from the development ranks and established themselves not only as senior squad members, but prominent first-team players. Thomas has even been named by the manager as City’s player of the season so far.

With Harvey Barnes and Hamza Choudhury also in the first team, only three of the 41 starting line-ups fielded by City this season have not included a player who came up through the club’s academy - the Premier League wins over Manchester United and Brentford in October, and the 1-1 home draw with Spartak Moscow. In fact, City have had an academy graduate in the matchday squad for every game since a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in December 2018, a run of 165 matches.

There is plenty of scope for more youngsters to break through, not least with Rodgers affording an opportunity to the likes of Kasey McAteer, Wanya Madivadua, and Will Alves this season. City have an under-23s team that, despite a significant lowering of the average age of the side, has held its own in Premier League 2, while the under-18s have been challenging for titles too.

Led by Adam Barradell, the under-18s reached the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals, where they lost to Manchester United, while they are fifth in their league and had been competing for top spot until a recent run of four games without victory. On Wednesday, they host Fulham in the Premier League Cup semi-final hoping to book their place against Chelsea in the final.

However, despite the impressive performances of many of the youngsters in those