Steve Cooper made ten changes to the Leicester City team that played against Everton on Saturday for the trip to Walsall in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night.
Caleb Okoli was the only Leicester City player who started in the draw against Everton who kept his place as Steve Cooper‘s side needed penalties to beat League Two Walsall.
It was a really concerning night for Cooper and Leicester as a side littered with experienced fringe players failed to cause Walsall any real problems and managed just two shots on target.
The likes of Ricardo Pereira, Bobby De Cordova-Reid and Odsonne Edouard all failed to take their chance, with Danny Ward bailing Leicester out by saving all three penalties he faced after the 0-0 draw in 90 minutes.
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Steve Cooper should have handed Will Alves Leicester City chance vs Walsall
Despite the fact Cooper made ten changes to the starting XI for Walsall, the only youth products in the side were Luke Thomas and Hamza Choudhury, who are now 23 and 26 respectively.
Whilst Cooper has a lot of players to keep happy at Leicester, the game against fourth tier opposition in a competition that is very low on the list of priorities seemed a perfect opportunity to give some of the club’s talented youngsters a chance.
- READ MORE: Steve Cooper target of ‘ridiculous scenes’ as Leicester City supporters grow tired vs Walsall
One such player is attacking midfielder Will Alves, with the 19-year-old making the squad but not getting any game time.
Alves has made three senior appearances for Leicester in his fledgling career so far, including 18 minutes off the bench in the 4-0 win over Tranmere Rovers in the last round of the Carabao Cup.
However, despite Leicester lacking any kind of attacking spark, Cooper decided against throwing on the talented Alves.
Enzo Maresca rated Alves highly whilst at Leicester City
He may only be 19 but Alves may have already seen far more first-team football had not been sidelined for ten months following ACL surgery at the beginning of 2023 as he was handed his debut by Brendan Rogers in 2022.
Cooper’s predecessor, Enzo Maresca, was a fan of the midfielder and had the then-18-year-old train with the Leicester first-team following his return from injury before handing him an FA Cup appearance last season.
- READ MORE: Who is Will Alves? Meet Leicester City’s ‘special’ talent who could be the next James Maddison
Speaking on Alves in October as he stepped up his return form injury, Marsha told Leicestershire Live: “At the moment, because it was a very long injury, he has to work every day, train every day, enjoy every day, then slowly come with us.
“But we’ll see. For sure, we’ve had him for a couple of sessions and we can see that he looks like he has something important, something special.”
With so much pressure on every game in the Premier League it seems like if Cooper will not use Alves in a cup match against a League Two side then he may well not get a look in this season.