Monga becomes Leicester's youngest ever starter

BBC News

5 days ago

Jeremy Monga became Leicester City's youngest ever starter in Wednesday's Carabao Cup penalty shootout defeat by Huddersfield at the age of 16 years and 34 days old.He beat a record which had been held for 59 years by legendary former Foxes and England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, who made his debut in a 3-0 victory against Everton in May 1966 at Filbert Street at the age of 16 years and 228 days.Monga was a second-half substitute for Leicester in their opening day Championship win against Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday and made seven substitute appearances in the Premier League last season.However, the EFL Cup tie signalled his first start for the club.The winger was booked in the 14th minute and played an hour for the Foxes before being withdrawn for Stephy Mavididi.And, after the match, boss Marti Cifuentes spoke glowingly of Monga and 16-year-old team-mate Louis Page, who also made his first-team debut as a half-time substitute."'I'm a big believer in Jez, I'm a big believer in Louis, they are here because they are showing their quality," Cifuentes told BBC Radio Leicester."Now, my job is to make sure they are not just here to make their debut but to make sure they succeed in the long term."[Wednesday] was a scenario that was not easy because there was a little bit of pressure around him [Monga] around the yellow card and I think that he coped really well with that with his personality."We tried to protect him a little bit, that's why we subbed him. In my eyes, he was doing a good job but we want him ready for this Saturday."