Luke Thomas has staked a claim to be Leicester City’s starting left-back for the remainder of the season with a performance that gave manager Brendan Rodgers “everything I wanted”.
Brendan Rodgers said: “I thought he was outstanding. This young man is developing so well.He looks slight, but he’s got a great football brain, so he doesn’t get beaten too often defensively. He was up against a big talent in (Bertrand) Traore – he’s got a nice left foot and he’s quick – but he (Thomas) gets tight to people and doesn’t let them turn. He’s brave. He was everything I wanted him to be and of course, with his natural left side, he serves the ball really well. I thought he was outstanding.”
For the first time since November, the teenage left-back started back-to-back games, following up his outing in the goalless draw with Slavia Prague with his best performance in a City shirt to date in the 2-1 win over Aston Villa. Certainly, Rodgers was over the moon with how Thomas performed in the West Midlands. If three games in seven days is too much for the youngster, Rodgers could move Castagne or Ricardo across and bring in Marc Albrighton or Cengiz Under on the right wing, or Christian Fuchs could come in for what would be his first start of the calendar year.