Leicester Boss Claude Puel Reveals Plans for Youngster Following Strong Start to New Season
Leicester City boss Claude Puel says he intends to persist with his recent experiment of using Demarai Gray as a lone striker, after the youngster showed signs of promise against Liverpool while leading the line.
Discussing the 22-year-old, via the Leicester Mercury, Puel claimed that Gray was capable of playing across the front line, and said:
He said: "I think he has all the quality in this position [of striker]. Against Liverpool it was difficult for him. It was important to find the same desire in the second half. It was better in the second half and it is important to keep this aggressiveness all the time.
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"But he is a player who played very well from the start of the season and he needs to continue with a good focus and aggressiveness in his play. He needs to be consistent because that is the difference between the young player and the experienced player. They have to learn, like all the young players in the team.”
Gray is clearly important to Puel's plans this season, and will give the coach a versatile option to rotate along with Jamie Vardy, Kelechi Iheanacho, and Shinji Okazaki.
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The former Birmingham City prospect is rapidly developing into a quality player, and will be looking to enhance his reputation from wonderkid to established Premier League standard this season.
The tenacious forward was a Premier League winner with the Foxes in the famous 2015/16 campaign, where he made 12 appearances in his debut season with the side. Gray clearly has ambitions to become an England senior international, and picked up 18 caps for the Under-21 side, scoring six goals in the process.
Meanwhile, Leicester ace Harry Maguire has admitted that he and his fellow England teammates are still trying to get their heads around the puzzling new UEFA Nations League format.
The Three Lions play their first match in the competition against Spain on Saturday, and Maguire claimed that the side are just focusing on winning, rather than figuring out the new system.
