Why Demarai Gray is thriving away from Leicester City as winger prepares for reunion

Demarai Gray has grabbed his “last chance” and made the most of regular game-time at Everton to thrive away from Leicester City.

Gray, who on Wednesday night will take on City for the first time since leaving the club, has five goals and two assists to his name in the Premier League this season. That's a greater tally than in any of his four full campaigns at the King Power Stadium.

The winger has started 22 of the Toffees' Premier League matches this term since his £1.7million move from Bayer Leverkusen, and his performances early in the campaign saw him named as one of the bargain buys of the summer. Injuries halted his progress and he has been used as a substitute in recent weeks.

Earlier in the campaign, he was making the most of game-time afforded to him, something he did not get towards the end of his time with City. He only started eight league matches in two years after Brendan Rodgers took the reins.

The City boss has said he would like to have kept Gray in his squad, but the winger was set on moving to a side where he could be a regular starter. Gray, meanwhile, said that he had open discussions with Rodgers about his future before he left City, signalling he saw himself away from the club, adding that no contract offer was put forward to try to tempt him to change his mind.

After six months in the Bundesliga that didn’t work out, he moved back to the Premier League. Rodgers believes he may have seen his deal at Goodison Park as a “last chance” to make his mark, which has helped him reach new heights.

“I’m delighted for Demarai,” Rodgers said in January, ahead of the originally scheduled fixture with Everton. "I think he felt he needed to [leave]. I’d have loved for him to stay.

"He’d been at the club for five