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McSweeney: Young Players Have Excelled

Leon McSweeney reflects on an action-packed season for our Under-21s and says the young Foxes have taken huge strides in their development.

2026-05-13T11:00+01:00

by Archie Tooth

Published

13 May, 2026

McSweeney: Young Players Have Excelled

Leon McSweeney reflects on an action-packed season for our Under-21s and says the young Foxes have taken huge strides in their development.

Archie Tooth

2026-05-13T11:00+01:00

McSweeney: Young Players Have Excelled

Leon McSweeney reflects on an action-packed season for our Under-21s and says the young Foxes have taken huge strides in their development.

Archie Tooth

2026-05-13T11:00+01:00

McSweeney: Young Players Have Excelled

Leon McSweeney reflects on an action-packed season for our Under-21s and says the young Foxes have taken huge strides in their development.

Archie Tooth

2026-05-13T11:00+01:00

McSweeney: Young Players Have Excelled

Leon McSweeney reflects on an action-packed season for our Under-21s and says the young Foxes have taken huge strides in their development.

Archie Tooth

2026-05-13T11:00+01:00

Coach Leon McSweeney has been impressed with the development of Academy talent in 25/26
Those who broke through this term can pave the way for Under-21s players, he says
Several young Foxes have also had success on loan this season

Our Development Squad finished the regular season in ninth place in Premier League 2. From 20 matches, they recorded nine wins, four draws and seven losses, tallying 31 points.

But, for coach McSweeney, his ambition has always been on best preparing the Club’s rising talent to make a seamless transition into the men’s senior set-up.

“We've had players feature prominently in the First Team squad and matchday squads and get involved this season,” he told us. “In terms of preparing our players and getting them ready for First Team football, that certainly is the case.

“It was a nice, probably fitting, way to end the season in terms of Louis [Page] and Jeremy [Monga] starting away at Blackburn and then Kevon Gray coming on to make his Club debut. They are real successes.”

To build on a first start for the Club earlier in the campaign, 17-year-old Page capped off a breakthrough season by being crowned EFL Championship Apprentice of the Season, after featuring 18 times for the senior team throughout the campaign.

McSweeney felt strongly that stories like Page’s is proof that a route into men’s football is possible for the Club’s Academy talent.

“Ultimately, that is what we're in the game for, to do that,” he added. “Our job, as I said, is to ready them as best as we can for those occasions. In the last few years, it's a good place to be in development football and the Club maintains that reputation for producing our own.

“There's so much more to go into the detail of it, but it's part of the job. You won't really reflect on it until probably in the middle of the close season when you look back on it.

“It's a good place to be right now in terms of being a young footballer.

“That's what our message to the guys will be going into this close season and making sure that they're in the top shape possible to hit the ground running when they come back.”

It’s not just in house where our young Foxes have flourished. The likes of Henry Cartwright (Falkirk), Tom Wilson-Brown (Swindon Town), Jayden Joseph (Tranmere Rovers), Will Alves (Huddersfield Town), Sammy Braybrooke (Newport County and Chesterfield), Chris Popov (Morecambe) and Jake Evans (Northampton Town) have all earned experience out on loan this season.

McSweeney continued: “We always say the key aspect of our role is to develop our players and ready them for First Team football. Even from the get-go, we've had young players that excelled last year go on and have really successful loan periods away from the Football Club, which will stand them in good stead for their return next season.”

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