Luke Thomas
Just 12 months on from his first team debut against Sheffield United, academy graduate Luke Thomas has become a regular for Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers. He made 25 appearances for the club last season, 14 of which came in the Premier League. A loan move may have been on the cards, but the 20-year-old signed a new long term contract last summer, and he was well and truly in the plans of the Leicester boss. It was a quiet start to the season for Thomas, but he played in five of their six Europa League group stage matches, with his first senior goal coming in the 3-3 draw away to Braga.
Luke Thomas said: “Getting your first goal for your boyhood club is a great feeling, and it was good for the team as well because we were struggling in that game. I think we were 2-1 behind at the point I scored, and we weren’t great first half, but second half, we showed a lot more quality and mentality, and we got the vital point that we needed to qualify for the knock out stages.”
Thomas had to wait until the Foxes’ 4-1 victory away to Leeds United to make his first Premier League start of the season, but he was in the squad for the three games that followed, which included appearances against Wolves and Fulham. He spent much of the winter period watching on from the bench, although he featured against Crystal Palace, Arsenal and Aston Villa as the team built towards the latter stages of the season in pursuit of Champions League football. The academy graduate made his mark and played in the final eight league games of the campaign as well as featuring for 82 minutes of the club’s historic FA Cup final victory over Chelsea.
For Thomas, his breakthrough season came during a pandemic, which gave him little experience playing in front of the fans, meaning the final at Wembley was always going to be special. Some 22,000 were expected to watch on, in what was the biggest crowd at an event in the UK since the beginning of lockdown, and Leicester more than marked the occasion.
Luke Thomas said: “On the day, it’s a bit surreal. You’re full of excitement and so pumped, even after the game. Especially with fans there that day, it was a great feeling to have their support to get us through the game. I don’t think we could’ve done it without them.”
Just days before the trip to Wembley, the boyhood Leicester fan not only started against Manchester United, but he opened the scoring ten minutes in to register his first Premier League goal for the club.
Luke Thomas added: “I didn’t know I had that in me, to be honest! It was a great feeling to score my first Premier League goal, and hopefully, I can continue to get on the scoresheet. Because I was coming onto the ball, I shouted to [Jamie] Vardy that I’ve got it, and luckily he left it because it’s gone straight into the top corner, on another day, maybe it wouldn’t! To get the goal was good for the team, and good for myself.”
The season concluded at the King Power with a disappointing 4-2 loss to Tottenham Hotspur that edged Leicester out of the top four and out of the Champions League places. Despite Jamie Vardy scoring twice from the spot, Spurs came from behind in each half to overcome Rodgers’ men on a dramatic final day. For Thomas, a first appearance in front of the fans in the ground he once attended as a season ticket holder was a fitting way to conclude an impressive breakthrough campaign.
Luke Thomas said: “You don’t realise until after the game, yes you hear them [the fans] in the background, but you’re focused on the game. The Spurs game was massive for us, but I was focused, and after the game, my family told me they were chanting my name in the crowd. It’s the club I used to go and watch, and I sat in the stands for seven odd years watching the team, so to play in front of the fans was an unbelievable feeling.”
There’s plenty of positivity surrounding the young Leicester star, and the upcoming season is only further opportunity for him to develop as he looks to repay Rodgers for the faith he’s placed in him.
