What Steve Cooper learned from Will Alves performance ahead of Manchester United decision
The Leicester City talent started his first club match all season when he lined up for the Under-21s in their Premier League Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest on Monday night
For Will Alves, Steve Cooper and Leicester City, it’s not ideal that the promising attacking midfielder has had to wait until late October for his first club start of the campaign.
After proving at the end of last term that his serious knee injury had not damaged his ability nor his potential, he would have wanted to hit the ground running this season. But despite spending all of the summer with the first team and having trained alongside City’s seniors as a fully-fledged member of Cooper’s squad in the weeks since, he’s had to be patient.
Cooper was in attendance at Seagrave on Monday night, watching as Alves started for the Under-21s against Nottingham Forest. The manager would really have liked to have been watching him representing an EFL club, having revealed last month his intention to get the 19-year-old out on loan. The right side did not come forward.
With Facundo Buonanotte, Bilal El Khannouss, Jordan Ayew and Bobby De Cordova-Reid all arriving in the summer, Alves has been knocked down the pecking order. City could not rely on such an inexperienced player to be a key man, but so many arrivals has meant he’s not had a sniff of Premier League action.
In the Carabao Cup, he got a few minutes against Tranmere and was an unused substitute against Walsall, which has not been enough to satisfy City supporters, nor likely Alves himself. But having scraped through on penalties at Walsall, there’s another tie next week at Manchester United where he could be included in the squad.
Afforded an hour or so on Monday night, it felt like the plan was to get Alves minutes so that he is in better shape to potentially feature at Old Trafford. Because at this point in his development, there’s little to be gained from his appearances in Under-21s matches.
