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For Leicester supporters, the European U21 Championships should fill them with intrigue, especially from an England point of view.
Among Aidy Boothroyd’s ranks are four Leicester men; Demarai Gray, James Maddison, Hamza Choudhury and Harvey Barnes.
All four players have great promise for the years ahead whilst the latter three names have certainly shown they can be key cogs in the Foxes’ system.
However, during England’s opening match with one of the favourites, France, there was a particularly concerning performance from one of Leicester’s rising stars.
On the chalkboard
One of the most disappointing performers on the night was Choudhury.
The 21-year-old has developed into a fine young player and enjoyed a breakthrough season at the King Power last term, receiving regular minutes over the Christmas period and also towards the back end of the campaign.
Against the likes of Chelsea and Arsenal he was outstanding, providing his team with a shield of protection in front of the back four.
For the majority of the opening 45 minutes against France on Tuesday, he put in a similar sort of display and offered a screen in front of the defence that not many other teams will have at the tournament.
That’s the intelligent part of Choudhury’s game and we’ve seen it on regular occasions in the Premier League.
Yet, on the international stage, the young midfielder showed he still has plenty to learn.
His display initially was a tidy one but that changed just after the hour mark. The Leicester man went flying into a challenge on Oliver Ntcham inside the penalty area and caught the Frenchman late.
In truth, it was a terrible challenge, and the fact it went to VAR to determine whether he should be given his marching orders was surprising.
What wasn’t a surprise, however, was that he was eventually given a red card. Lucas Tousart missed the penalty but the French still went onto come from behind to win 2-1.
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It was a rare rush of blood from Choudhury but it displayed that among the talent he possesses, there are elements of his game that need to be vastly improved.
For someone so young, he’s demonstrated great maturity when playing domestically but this was evidence that in terms of discipline and keeping your composure, there is work to be done.
This incident has the opportunity to be a learning curve for the Englishman, one which Brendan Rodgers will be hoping he takes back to Leicester ahead of the new campaign.
