The primary objective of Leicester City’s academy is to produce players for their first team and not to make money like “some other places”, manager Steve Cooper has insisted.
With academy talents generating ‘pure profit’ and allowing clubs to more easily comply with Profit and Sustainability Rules, there’s been a transfer merry-go-round of young players this summer. This week, on the question of Chelsea offloading popular academy graduates, former City boss Enzo Maresca said clubs are “compelled” to move on homegrown players and that the rules need changing to “protect” them.
This summer, City sold their most valuable academy graduate in Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to Chelsea for £30m to help them meet PSR. But Cooper has suggested he does not want that to be the norm while he’s manager.
The City boss comes from a youth football background, making his name with England Under-17s, and says he’s committed to giving youngsters a chance. A handful of City’s best prospects have trained with the first team this summer, albeit game-time has been limited for them as pre-season has progressed.
Will Alves has been the most involved of City’s starlets, but has been restricted to cameo appearances in recent pre-season friendlies. Sammy Braybrooke was the only other academy player to join the first team on their trip to Germany last week but has not featured in any pre-season games.
Cooper said: “What’s the main objective of an academy? It’s to produce players for the first team or, maybe at some other places, it’s to sell on and make money. Everyone knows my background, and my commitment to that.
