Sometimes it's a single touch. A feint in this way, a movement that. A sudden gear. It is not required for coaches to recognize a special talent and in Leicester they have been very enthusiastic about Jeremy Monga for a while.
Monga will not be 16 to July, but he has already been to the bench for the first team for the FA Cup -Equival game at Manchester United in February. He is considered one of the best prospects ever to come from the Leicester Academy and apparently with the side of Ruud van Nistelrooy back to the championship, many fans now want the young man to get his chance.
When his education allows it, Monga often trains with the first team of Leicester, often on Thursday. He was first asked to get to the seniors at the former Foxes Steve Cooper at the start of the season and Mail Sport understands that he has made an immediate impression.
Where many young players will play it safely and just try to prevent mistakes during these sessions, Monga said herself. A right-wing left-wing player who can also operate in other attacking roles, would like to record his full-back and take risks as he would do in the Junior ranks of Leicester. He was confident about his older colleagues and behaved as if he belonged.
The Leicester academy has category one status and ensures that the players attract at a high level and competition for places as soon as there is intense. Those who look at Academy Football closely believe that Leicester has many players who have professional careers.
In such a system it is difficult enough for a 15-year-old to be selected for the under-18 side, let alone the under 21 years. Monga has not only forced his way to the young people under 21, he already has two goals and two assists in Premier League 2, the top flight competition for developing players.
Now for the difficult part. When a player takes as gifted as Monga, an internationally under 16 international, takes his first steps in a club, it doesn't take long before a message is to circulate. Mail Sport understands that Manchester City has been following him closely for a while, while Chelsea, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have moved in the background. Last summer, Leicester was afraid that their jewel could be taken from them before he could become a regular for the first team.
Players cannot sign a professional contract before they turn 17, and Monga will not reach that age until July 2026. However, offers can be made for some time before. If a player under the age of 16 wants to go somewhere else, he has to inform his club and the competition no later than the first Saturday in June.
Although rival clubs rarely make direct approaches in these cases, it is not difficult to ensure that the target becomes aware of their interest: a discreet word in the right ear here, a quick conversation with an influential person there.
Then there are the more cheeky efforts. The tests, the invitations for Champions League matches for the whole family, the tours through the training facilities and opportunities to meet the stars of the first team. Not to mention the contract offered and the salary – again, there are many ways to ensure that those details find their way to the player and his family, without fingerprints.
When a gifted younger leaves a mid-ranking club for a richer, more successful, the debt game of supporters on social media is inevitable. The player or his family are 'greedy'; The club is incompetent or not ambitious because he does not hold him.
But consider both parties. Which teenage footballer would not be tempted by a Champions League club? Which family would not consider financial offers that could change their lives?
Similarly, is it really the fault of clubs at the level of Leicester if they cannot always stick to their best prospects when the elite is on the market, and with the rules as they are? Both at Senior and Junior level, the best players are attracted by the best clubs and those clubs will do everything to ensure that those wishes come true.
Not that this is a guarantee for success. “There are so many contact points for Academy players,” an experienced youth coach told Mail Sport. 'There is football, school, their family, their friends. Then they try to get international recognition from a young age – that has a major effect on their self -confidence.
'Those with the best chance of making it are those who can keep their lives very easily. Focus on school, focus on football. There are so many distractions at that age. '
When they try to keep a coveted Academy player, clubs eventually follow eggshells. Mail Sport has learned from academic coaches that are reprimanded by high officials for giving these stars a roles if they have a bad one or do not have an application. “Whatever you do, they didn't stand up, or we don't have a chance to keep them,” runs the general message. If the rest of the team can see certain players who receive preferential treatment, this can cause widespread resentment.
For their part, Leicester wants to avoid a repeat of Trey Nyoni's move to Liverpool in September 2023.
Just like Monga, Nyoni was one of the best talents in the Leicester Academy, but was persuaded to move to Anfield at the age of 16. Now 17, he has made 15 senior performances for the Reds, with the compensation package as a result of Leicester, which is still determined by a tribunal.
“Jeremy is a great talent that is an essential part of the future of this club for me,” said Van Nistelrooy in January. 'We want to start conversations to keep him at the club. It is important for me that that can work. We plan that.
“We look at his development, where he is now. He is 15, he is still at school, only on Thursday is he available for training with us. So in that perspective we have to see what is best for him, and the path to the first team and senior football.
'We present him our thoughts and my thoughts about him. I think very much about him and want him to be part of the future in the long term of this club.
(His talent has been noticed) throughout the world. That is why we have him where possible with the first team. That is why conversations with him and his family will soon start.
“Of course I will talk to him and his family and present him a path that we think is best to get him in the first team.”
Clubs such as Leicester want players such as Monga stars to become their first team, role models for their colleagues and heroes for their supporters. Ideally, they will generate tens of millions in transfer income on a day.
For the top clubs, the calculation is much colder: if one of the young people they sign in the first team breaks, brilliant. If a few more does not get all the way, but can be sold for a neat sum, that is also good. The reality, however, is that the majority does not meet the required standard and have to rebuild their career when they are still very young.
At the age of 15 it is quite difficult to make a decision that can form a career. For Leicester and Monga, just like for the many similar clubs and players around the world in similar situations, the outcome could have a huge impact on the future. For the richest of football, however, the wheels continue to turn around, just as slowly as always.
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