Ruud van Nistelrooy will personally present prodigious 15-year-old winger Jeremy Monga with a pathway to the first team as Leicester City look to retain “a vital part of the future of this club”.
Monga is one of the best prospects to emerge from City’s academy in recent years and is already featuring for the club’s under-21s. But his talent has been noticed “by the whole world”, van Nistelrooy has said, and City face a battle to keep him from moving to one the country’s biggest clubs.
The process of proving to Monga that his future is best served at City is now under way. While he can not enter into a professional contract until his 17th birthday, which is still 18 months away, he can be offered professional terms in advance.
The England Under-16 international has been included in training sessions with van Nistelrooy’s first team on occasion, while he travelled with the senior squad to Old Trafford in the Carabao Cup under Steve Cooper. If he were to make his debut against QPR in the FA Cup on Saturday, he would become the club’s youngest-ever player.
“Jeremy is a great talent that for me is a vital part of the future of this club,” van Nistelrooy said. “We’re looking to start conversations to keep him at the club. It’s important for me that that can work out. We’re planning that.
“We’re looking at his development, where he is now. He’s 15, he’s still in school, only on Thursdays is he available for training with us. So in that perspective, we have to see what’s best for him, and the pathway to the first team and senior football.
“We are presenting to him our thoughts and my thoughts on him. I think very highly of him and want him to be part of the long-term future of this club.
“(His talent’s been noticed) by the whole world. That’s why we have him with the first team where possible. That’s why conversations with him and his family will start soon. I will of course be talking with him and his family, presenting him a pathway that we think is best to get him into the first team.”
Monga was part of the City under-16 side that won the Premier League Cup last season, but he’s been fast-tracked through the academy to the development squad. He’s played 11 times for the under-21s this season, including against senior sides Burton, Northampton and Notts County in the EFL Trophy, and has scored twice.
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