Leicester City have produced a plethora of talented players from their academy over the years, namely Gary Lineker.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is the latest example, and previously Harvey Barnes and Ben Chilwell, who both fetched significant transfer fees for the club.
Enzo Maresca has been willing to dip into the under-21s this term and has promoted the likes of Kasey McAteer, Wanya Marcal and Ben Nelson.
Nelson, particularly, has become a favourite of Maresca’s and clearly has the talent to play at a higher level.
Leicester have another promising teen coming through the academy who is making his comeback from a long injury lay-off.
Will Alves could be the next James Maddison for Leicester
City supporters will know all about Will Alves.
The 2005-born forward rose to prominence in the Foxes sphere in 2020 when BBC Sport released a YouTube of his sensational dribbling and shooting ability in their ‘Football Wonderkids’ series.
Thereafter, The Foxes faithful kept tabs on their rising star before he made his first-team debut in January 2022, aged just 16.
After making waves in the under-21 set-up, Alves received his second senior appearance at the beginning of the 2022/23 season under Brendan Rodgers.
He impressed in his cameo appearance against MK Dons and there were shades of James Maddison in his game.
It felt like Alves was on the cusp of becoming a regular in Rodgers’ squad at this point before a horrific ACL injury struck, putting him out of action for a lengthy period.
It was only in December 2023 that he returned and since then he’s had a few setbacks but is now back training with Maresca’s side.
Will Alves could get his opportunity before the end of the season
Alves was an unused substitute against Watford back in February before suffering a minor injury.
Maresca is well aware of how supremely talented he is and back in October, he said: “At the moment, because it was a very long injury, he has to work every day, train every day, enjoy every day, then slowly come with us.
“But we’ll see. For sure, we’ve had him for a couple of sessions and we can see that he looks like he has something important, something special.”
Eagled-eyed Foxes fans spotted that he was back in training last week and that has led many to believe that he could play a part between now and the end of the season.
In defeats to Middlesbrough and Queens Park Rangers, Leicester lacked a spark and Alves could certainly provide that, in abundance.
If he can stay fit, it seems there’s every chance he could contribute to City’s promotion bid back to the Premier League.
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