It’s not unusual for Leicester City to call up players from their academy to train with the first team, especially during the international break.
But this particular international break is a bigger opportunity than usual for the City youngsters to stake a claim.
Ruud van Nistelrooy is unlikely to start giving the Under-21s a first-team outing just yet with the manager not giving up on survival until it’s mathematically impossible.
But should City suffer relegation with games still remaining in the season, then it’s possible he will start to take a look at some of those youngsters and see how they fare in a first-team environment.
If van Nistelrooy is to be true to his word, he will be sticking around for next season should City fall into the Championship.
In that case, he’s going to want to thoroughly assess his squad and bring players into the fold who he feels can make a difference next season, or at least those he feels he can develop.
His background has been in youth coaching and he brought players up from PSV’s youth set-up into their first team.
Van Nistelrooy has already said that Jake Evans and Jeremy Monga will be in true first-team contention from pre-season.
The talented forward duo were among nine young players spotted in training with the first team, alongside Bade Aluko, Joe Wormleighton, Sammy Braybrooke, Liam McAlinney, Harvey Godsmark-Ford, Tommy Neale and Mirsad Ali, and they should all feel keener to impress knowing the manager they're working for could still be in charge when preparations for the new season begin.
Some of the regulars for the Under-21s this season were away on international duty with Louis Page (England), Logan Briggs (Wales) and Bobby Amartey (Ghana) representing their nation’s youth teams.
But there’s more than just wanting to impress van Nistelrooy at stake for the Under-21s. They have glory to compete for.
Sitting sixth in the Premier League 2 table with just two regular-season fixtures to go, Leon McSweeney’s youngsters are effectively qualified for the end-of-season play-offs.
The top 16 clubs play a knockout tournament to decide the league champions. City finished outside the top 16 last season, so this will be their first time involved in the play-offs.
They will go back to preparing for their next fixture, at home to West Brom on Monday, April 7, now that City’s internationals are returning.
The internationals were wrapped up on Tuesday night with Wilfred Ndidi and Nigeria drawing 1-1 with Zimbabwe, and Bilal El Khannouss and Morocco beating Tanzania 2-0, both matches in World Cup qualifying.
Which City youngster are you most excited by? Click HERE to have your say.
The latest Leicester City headlines sent straight to your phone
Get the latest Leicester City news sent straight to your phone by joining our Foxes WhatsApp community. Just click here and select ‘Join Community’ to get started.
No one will be able to see your personal information in the community and you will only receive messages from the LeicestershireLive sports team. We will not spam your WhatsApp feed with constant messages, but you will receive updates from us daily with the latest City stories. All you need to participate in this free service is to have WhatsApp on your phone.
If for some reason you decide you no longer want to be in our community, you can leave at any time by clicking on the name at the top of your screen and then 'Exit Group'. It's as simple as that. You can read our Privacy Notice HERE.