Steve Cooper’s coaching staff have been keeping a close eye on Leicester City’s promising loanees Ben Nelson and Tom Cannon, as the manager aims to assess their potential for future inclusion in the first team.

Nelson and Cannon are two of ten players Leicester have sent out on loan this season, with the club keen to provide its young talent with valuable experience through regular senior football. While Cooper’s immediate focus is on the players at Seagrave, he is determined not to lose sight of those temporarily playing elsewhere, with the club even inserting January recall clauses into their loan deals, ensuring flexibility should their services be needed mid-season.

Leicester City are in the process of recruiting a new loans manager, who will be tasked with building strong relationships with other clubs to secure productive loan spells for young players. This figure will also monitor the players’ progress, offering feedback to Cooper and the coaching team. Cooper recognises that many of these loanees could soon feature in his own first-team plans, and thus their development is crucial.

Ben Nelson, a centre-back who has already impressed during his spell with Oxford United, is one such player. Although Nelson had been selected for England’s Elite League Squad (formerly Under-20s) during the international break, injury forced him to withdraw. Nevertheless, Cooper is a firm admirer of the youngster’s abilities, noting his unbeaten record across three appearances for Oxford.

Speaking just before the international break, Cooper outlined the importance of monitoring loan players closely: “It’s a big part of a Premier League club’s operation now, loans and with a loans manager, monitoring players and keeping up relationships and things like that. We’re all very much involved.”

“When we can, first-team staff will go to as many games as we can. We’ve already been to see Tom and Ben and one or two others. And obviously, we have recruitment staff [going to games]. So there’s a constant monitoring of how these players are doing.”

The loan system, Cooper insists, can be invaluable for a young player’s development. He cited Tom Cannon’s experience as an example of how such spells can shape a player’s resilience. Cannon had a challenging outing when he was substituted at half-time in one game, but bounced back to score four goals in his next appearance. “What a brilliant experience for a young player,” Cooper said, “to have that disappointment of not such a great day and then the high, especially for a number nine, of scoring four goals. We’re all very involved in the loans. It’s an important part of developing players who could become part of the first team.”

Elsewhere, another Leicester loanee, Sammy Braybrooke, featured internationally during the break. On loan at Dundee, Braybrooke stepped in as a late injury replacement for the Elite League Squad and played the full 90 minutes in a 3-0 victory over Czechia at Doncaster, gaining valuable experience on the international stage.

With Leicester keen to develop their talent, the performances of these young loanees are being closely scrutinised, as Cooper looks to build for the future.