Waving flag with Leicester City FC football club logo. Editorial 3D
The 20-year-old winger mhave ay developed better playing regular games elsewhere rather than being benched or in the under-21’s
Leicester City’s start to the 2023-24 season – minus a 1-0 defeat at home to Hull – has not been as comfortable as the Championship table may suggest.
The Foxes have not exactly been blowing their opposition away despite the amount of Premier League experience new head coach Enzo Maresca has to rely upon, with perhaps only Southampton being defeated convincingly by a 4-1 scoreline a couple of weeks ago.
There has been plenty of one-goal wins with quite a few late goals to seal three points, but City are coasting along at the top of the second tier table with Maresca having plenty of ammunition that he can call upon off the bench in matches.
By the end of the summer transfer window, Leicester had signed nine new players to their squad, which added to the players that stayed at the King Power Stadium following relegation from the Premier League gives the Italian manager a real selection headache every week.
There isn’t many young, home-grown talents from the club however that are a part of Maresca’s plans, with only Kasey McAteer and Jakub Stolarczyk a constant in the matchday squads, although in the first few weeks at the season it also looked as though Wanya Marçal was going to get his chance to shine.
What is Wanya Marçal’s current situation at Leicester City?
And for three competitive games in a row, starting against Burton Albion last month in the EFL Cup, the 20-year-old Portugal youth international was utilised from the start, scoring his first ever goal in the 2-1 win over Cardiff City.
Quite abruptly though, Marçal was dropped from the 20-man squad against Rotherham, with Maresca instead opting to have two goalkeepers on the bench for whatever reason.
Aside from a 45-minute appearance against Tranmere in round two of the EFL Cup, Marçal hasn’t been seen since his goal against the Bluebirds, although he was an unused substitute against Hull on September 2 – Maresca has said that he needs to earn his place in the squad and he does not want to give youngsters too much too soon.
With the late transfer window arrivals though of wingers Yunus Akgun and Issahaku Fatawu, Marçal is likely going to be restricted to under-21’s football this season until January at the very least – and City may have made the wrong decision on his short-term future.
