Friday 24 November 2017 23:27, UK
Under Claude Puel, Demarai Gray is finally getting his chance to impress. Will he take it?
Leicester City's trip to face West Ham United at the London Stadium should see Demarai Gray named in the visitors' starting line-up for the fourth time in a row since Claude Puel's appointment as manager. Almost two years after his arrival at the club, it will be the first time that Gray has been named in the team for four consecutive Premier League games.
It seems extraordinary given that the player's potential has long been known. Football fans became accustomed to his regular forays from the bench during Leicester's title triumph as Gray became only the seventh teenager to earn a Premier League winners' medal. The congested fixture list of the following campaign was supposed to see him kick on.
But while Gray was in Claudio Ranieri's team for the opening day of last season, he did not start another game in the competition until after Christmas. When Craig Shakespeare took over, things did not improve. Although Leicester turned down bids from elsewhere for the winger, Gray started only four Premier League games in eight months under Shakespeare.
"I felt I was being held back," the player said recently, but he must share some of the responsibility. Two goals and three assists prior to the arrival of Claude Puel did not absolutely demand his inclusion. Which is why it is so important that Gray provided an immediate response when thrown in for the new manager's first game in charge.
Recalled for the 2-0 win against Everton, Gray scored the second goal of the game in a man-of-the-match performance at the King Power Stadium. He has retained his place since then and finally signed a new four-year contract with the club earlier this month. It is easy to see why Gray might regard Puel's appointment as a fresh start to his Leicester career.
Much is made of opportunities for English coaches, but it has taken the departure of one in favour of an experienced Frenchman to instil confidence in this young English talent. Puel has already compared Gray to Eden Hazard, with whom he worked when the Chelsea star was a teenager at Lille. It was an early demonstration of his belief in Gray's potential.
"He's good with the ball and good without the ball, a good player with good penetration, quality and he can make a difference," said Puel. "Now it is important to confirm and to stay at this level is the most important thing but the most difficult. He is technical and can play with good relationships with team-mates. We will see if he can continue to perform."
It is understandable why Gray might have become frustrated at times, particularly when not given an extended run during last season's malaise. As a teenager at Birmingham, he made more than 50 Championship starts, so the adjustment to life on the bench will have been challenging. He is appreciating the greater one-on-one attention from Puel and is eager to reward him.
"He stops you a lot in training which is good because I want to be coached, I want to learn and I want to know that I have a manager who wants to help me," Gray told Sky Sports. "At the age I'm at now, I want to keep developing rather than just being on one level. I want to be the best I can be and reach my potential. I think it's going to do me well."
Gray has had to watch as his contemporaries have been given their chance and delivered. He has seen his old England Under-21 room-mate Tammy Abraham make his senior debut when he might well have felt that he would have been the first to take that step given the head-start he enjoyed by playing regularly at Birmingham and tasting glory at Leicester.
Abraham racked up 11 Premier League starts within 100 days of his Premier League debut. It took Gray more than 650 days before Puel handed him his 12th start. But he goes to the London Stadium on Friday Night Football with another opportunity to showcase his potential. And with a manager who, belatedly, could help him to realise it.
