Leicester City have had a recurring theme over the past few years, aside from the financial issues and fan frustration; a story of redemption for players who’d found themselves out in the cold, maligned by previous managers or forgotten.
A lot was made of the Jannik Vestergaard renaissance last season, which feels a little ironic again now given he’s upset yet another manager and found himself an outcast again following the dog at Seagrave-gate. Given the club extended his contract for a further three years last summer, perhaps vindication 2.0 is still possible.
The redemption arc of 2025/26 is perhaps already written in pencil. Harry Souttar is back at the club, recovering from injury and having impressed while on loan at Sheffield United. It’s not definite given that three or maybe even four of our last managers haven’t seen a use for him. But maybe whoever is in charge in August will finally fancy him or play a system that suits him.
Few would have predicted this season’s contender for comeback of the year would be Luke Thomas. As Leicester fans face up to the latest poorly managed relegation and what lies ahead this summer, we can only hope that the club have been internally planning for the Championship. Part of that plan hopefully includes giving Thomas a contract extension following this particular redemption story.
If Ruud is to be believed, they either hadn’t started planning too far before this season ended, or they’d just excluded him. Then again he still hasn’t been sacked yet either even though it seemed a sure thing almost two weeks ago. From the outside it feels like nothing is happening. Again. But fan focus has shifted to finding things to look forward to, hanging onto the prospect of something good.
Which is primarily in the potential squad for 2025/26, namely how young and jam packed full of academy talent it _could_ be with the likes of Jeremy Monga, Jake Evans and Ben Nelson; assuming finances and big clubs don’t crush our dreams.
After finally finding himself back in the team and his performances in 2025, Luke Thomas is slightly older now, but should be a key part of that squad and one of the few local lads who is also a Leicester fan. Something not to be taken for granted in this money-grabbing, mercenary age of football. With the likes of Jamie Vardy departing, we’ll value players whose DNA is the club even more.
It’s a surprising comeback after two difficult seasons where Thomas found himself out of favour and struggling in the Brendan Rodgers relegation era, and then with a manager in Maresca who didn’t really like or play the kind of fullback that Thomas is. But Thomas has been one of the main stories for the second half of this season and a good news story at that.
A lot of Foxes fans expected him to be leaving with no fanfare and a few regrets at the end of the 2023/24 season after we’d struggled to offload him earlier. He rarely made the bench as we pushed to return to the Premier League, Maresca preferring to deploy the on-loan centre back Callum Doyle at left back instead.
He had completed two unsuccessful loan spells, first at Sheffield United and Middlesbrough, making just twelve appearances at both and seeming to underwhelm. Sent back both times and stuck out with the under 23s.
If you believe the rumour mill, we had a chance to sell Thomas this January. Bundesliga club Hoffenheim were said to be interested in him and offering cash, but we rejected it. At the time, this raised a few eyebrows and seemed ludicrous. In a squad full of players we’d not been able to offload but desperately wanted to, and when we were openly discussing our lack of finances, a sellable asset who was barely making the squad seemed like a no-brainer.
What a difference five months can make. It’s either dumb luck or incredible foresight somewhere in the ranks, because the thought of having sold him now seems just as ridiculous as turning away the cash. If we only judged the season from January onwards, Thomas would have been a player of the season contender. That award was likely always going to The Goat, but Thomas had been our best player for a good run of games.
There’s an argument for that accolade being a low bar for this Leicester side who, however you try and spin it, have been truly awful. Yet, Thomas has been able to push Victor Kristiansen firmly out of favour (we’ll ignore that one weird turn on the left in midfield at Bournemouth) and he’s contributed to a couple of the recent positive performances, while holding his own against the likes of Mo Salah, a daunting match-up on paper.
His first foray back into the side this season was a rocky one. Under the very brief and very terrible tenure of Ben Dawson, Thomas found himself drafted back in at Brentford away, Kristiansen injured late that week. The game was a disaster class, one to forget for everybody and we saw everything that had been a problem with Thomas in 2023/24 repeating.
When his inclusion was announced that day, it was a big talking point. Messages flew around on social media and in WhatsApp groups. In the Fosse Way group, we questioned why we were having to rely on Thomas in 2024 and I regret to admit that I speculated after that game that it might be best for him and for the club if we never saw him again. Even the commentators on the match were surprised by his inclusion and didn’t go easy on him.
That’s how far Thomas’ stock had fallen. One of our writers, who shall remain nameless here for fear of backlash, compared him to former loanee Ryan McGivern. He was beaten too easily, couldn’t seem to track his man and looked far out of his depth. Quite what changed in the five months since is unknown, but 2025 Luke Thomas is operating on a different level, confidence restored.
Cast your memory back to Thomas’ debut and things felt so promising. It was a strange start in many ways. His debut in 2020 when Ben Chilwell was injured coincided with one of the COVID-19 lockdowns, football was restarting but fans weren’t allowed in stadiums. So his debut was in front of a silent, empty King Power stadium. He was deprived of 30,000 fans celebrating his feat, to celebrate the goal that he assisted.
Trying to chart quite what went wrong and when for Thomas is tough, but a lot of Leicester fans had written off the prospect of him getting back into the side, or showing glimpses of the player we thought we had when he appeared in 2019. Under Rodgers, and his subsequent loan ventures, he had all the warning signs of a player devoid of confidence and lost.
It felt clear that we’d got our ready made Chilwell replacement though, another full back who could get forward and whip a cross in. Something, or rather one of the many things, we’ve struggled with this season.
Detectives would be looking at Brendan Rodgers. Thomas wasn’t the only younger player whose development seemed to stutter during his final season in charge, or who certainly haven’t progressed to the level expected.
There were some rumours that perhaps he also got swept up into some of the same party behaviour that seemed to be a problem for Hamza Choudhury and when James Maddison got in trouble, but to be fair to Thomas, it didn’t spill into saying ridiculous things on social media and you couldn’t accuse him of not caring.
Leicester City had so many problems in 2022/23, and so many players who looked disinterested that putting negative energy Thomas’ way felt unfair. He was one of a few players who genuinely seemed upset and frustrated as we slid towards relegation.
A long-lasting memory will always be the shot of Thomas and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall at Fulham away, how dejected and resigned to our fate they looked while others sauntered off down the tunnel.
One of the few positives this year has been having young, homegrown talent involved. Players to whom it all seems to mean a little more and who should be more invested. File Thomas in this category, the Syston born defender is first and firmly a Leicester fan. Fans want to see more of these players over high profile, well paid players whose primary focus is on themselves and whose commitment is called into question when the going gets tough.
For a team that’s struggled to create chances and score goals, Thomas has helped or at least tried to help with this since he’s been back in the side. His touch and crossing ability is better than Kristiansen, who often bombed up field only to waste the ball into the box.
He’s also added long throws to his game, something we’ve used to our benefit these last couple of months. It led to a goal against Nottingham Forest and it’s caused issues elsewhere.
Leicester have a few recruitment needs this summer, but striker is going to be one of the hot positions where our need is greatest, assuming Patson Daka is on the way out. Were we to sign a big man, or a striker who can hold up the ball, Thomas’ long throws could make for some interesting games next year.
Perhaps the only thing more surprising than Thomas’ general comeback would be if he were to become the new rustle king as Jamie Vardy leaves that position vacant shortly. The left-back found himself unwittingly trying on that crown, such was the level of frustration vented at him by the Forest fans behind the touchline every time he took a throw-in.
By the time Leicester kick off the Championship season, Thomas will still be just 24 years old. It’s easy to forget how young he was when he first started for us. But there’s a second chance for him and he could be a key player next year.
Whether he will fit into the new manager’s plans, assuming it will indeed be Russell Martin is unclear, but it’s been pleasing to see him playing again even if the results haven’t always been positive, his displays have been.