Livewire Maswanhise tipped for the top
LEICESTER. — Leicester City “have a player on their hands” in winger Tawanda Maswanhise.
That’s the view of the team’s development squad coach, Ben Petty, said after the 18-yearold scored his second goal of the season.
After impressing for City in the first team’s pre-season fixtures, Maswanhise, the son of former top Zimbabwean sprinter Jeffrey Maswanhise, has stepped up from the Under-18s to the Under-23s, hitting the ground running this season.
In a draw at Blackburn, he found the top corner with a stunning strike to win the club’s in-house goal of the month competition for August.
Then on Monday, he bagged again, beating his man then finding the far corner to help City Under-23s get their first win of the season, a 3-1 success against Everton. Petty is excited about his development. “He has (got that quality), and you take it for granted now,” the coach said. “That was a fantastic second goal. He did it at Blackburn too.
“He looks a livewire. Once he gets his physicality, grows into his body, and believes in his ability a bit more, I think we’ve got a player on our hands. All the players are developing nicely.”
Petty has also been pleased with summer signing Brad Young, the goalkeeper brought in from Hartlepool, and has made comparisons between him and first-team captain Kasper Schmeichel.“I thought he was outstanding, and he has been since he came in from Hartlepool,” Petty said.
“He’s already a very popular member of the group. He’s got very high standards.
“You can see the goal going in hurt him. He made two massive saves at really important times, and that’s when you realise how good a goalkeeper he is, like Kasper is for our first team, they make huge saves at huge times.“Hopefully in years to come, Brad is going to be a really good goalkeeper for the club.”
Joining the Under-23s on Monday was first-team defender Filip Benkovic, and Petty was pleased with how the Croatian helped his younger team-mates, playing in the centre of a back three.
“I thought Filip was excellent,” the coach added. “I thought he gave the back three some real solodity and calmness on the ball.” — Leicester Mercury.