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Jonathan Leko spent a decade at the West Bromwich Albion facility, largely the jewel of an academy celebrity for locating and polishing young diamonds.
Most of them did not hit the point of the first team, however, Leko is not the maximum of players and was only 16 when he participated in a pre-season friendly against Red Bull Salzburg.
His competitive debut came a few months later, in September 2015, when he replaced Stéphane Sessegnon in the 77th minute of a League Cup defeat in Norwich City, and in April 2016 he was the first player born in 1999 to play a Premier League match. .
By this time, it was already a hot topic on the youth football vine, having been seen through Chelsea, Tottenham, Manchester City and Liverpool and any mention of his call at the Hawthorns saw cars spin faster than they can say ”first professional contract”.
Tonight, the 21-year-old returned to Carrow Road in hopes of taking the next step in a race that has tempting potential.
However, the path is not uniformly ascending. Leko was forced to leave the Baggies to fulfill his unanswerable promise and had to protect himself from a serious knee injury, which until Saturday had prevented him from playing since December 2019.
Even in the discreet surroundings of an empty St Andrew’s, Leko came from the bench to send a charge of defibrillator energy through his teammates. Birmingham City lost to Sheffield on Wednesday, but in 23 minutes Leko saw Blues TV subscribers whether it would be wise to drop him behind Canarias.
After all, Leko has a skill set that no other Blues player can fit in, and it’s a skill Jimmy Shan has known since he first saw him at the age of 11.
“Growing up, the hypothesis wasn’t done by Jonathan, he’s a very intelligent character, a genuine citizen forged and even when he was young, all he cared about was betting football and doing it with a smile, that’s Jonathan in a nut words. “
For a long time it seemed that Norwich City would be forced to take Birmingham City without Todd Cantwell.
By the end of the summer, the young midfielder seemed destined to leave Carrow Road with Leeds United and even Liverpool are credited with an interest in a signing worth 25 million pounds.
And then the 22-year-old was injured on the practice court, which means he didn’t play for anyone last month.
However, the discussion about the movement came to nothing and Cantwell seems ready to have compatibility just in time for the Blues on Tuesday night.
Centraler Christophe Zimmerguy faces a challenge in the calf, but the guy who is arguably the biggest positive in the Canary Islands in his Premier League crusade is ready.
“The games are fast and intense and we love all the players,” said Norwich boss Daniel Farke. “For Christoph, the Birmingham game would possibly come too soon, but let’s wait and see.
“He and Todd were running in Colney this weekend.
‘Todd couldn’t run on Friday, otherwise I would have been on my plans [for Rotherham]. The foreign truce was smart for him. I probably would have thought about it.
“We had a long and fair verbal exchange about everything that happened and his mental state last week was much better.
“But we had this little setback with some bruises. He’s got too much quality not to play a part for us next week.
Oliver Skipp, the recipient of a bad shot on Saturday who saw Angus MacDonald expelled from Rotherham.
However, tottenham Hotspur’s transfer will be fine for the blues game.
“Oliver Skipp will be educated with us this afternoon and will be available by tomorrow. Thank God the challenge on his quad and not on his knee, ” added Farke.
Aitor Karanka has revealed that he will bring Jake Clarke-Salter back to Birmingham City as soon as he arrives at the club.
The central part of the eleventh signing of the summer for the Blues, who left him way behind in the play window to bring him back from Chelsea.
The prospect of former England U-21 captain returning to the Blues gave the impression that on the day of the deadline, the deal only ended in the final minutes and was announced 70 minutes after the window closed.
Karanka said it was because the club was looking to reduce the length of the team before doing so, but even though the only players they could spend were teenagers on loan, the Blues still have to move the Chelsea player forward.
And the Spaniard believes that the 23-year-old brings everything he didn’t have before on the team.
“I’m excited because it will give us so many options,” Karanka said.
“He can play as a smart central defender and I think that’s another thing we need, to build with the ball on the lawn. He’s a smart player and he’s going to help us a lot. “
“He here, he has a very intelligent date with everyone here, everyone here has talked a lot about him.
“I’ve been running with some members of Chelsea’s academy since I started middlesbrough, so I’m satisfied with him here.
“We’ve had him on the radar because he was here, he’s a smart player and he’s got a very smart long run. It is true that we had to send players, the players have not yet left, the club made an effort to bring him here. “
Sheffield Wednesday striker Callum Paterson admitted they were “lucky” to receive the kick that defeated them in Birmingham City on Saturday.
The Scot hit the bridge after a gentle touch of Adam Clayton as he fled the goal, only for referee Graham Scott to explode.
Barry Bannan stepped forward, pressed his penalty against Neil Etheridge and the undefeated start to the Blues championship season left.
The Blues’ defenseman, George Friend, was dissatisfied with the move and Paterson admitted it was accidental.
“It’s a smart victory for us,” he said. We’re getting there. We’re moving in the right direction. “
”I think we played very well and were at the highest sense of the maximum of the game. We had a chance of winning the penalty, but Baz pushed him aside and I think we deserved the win.
“It’s an elbow in the back. It’s pretty sweet, but a penalty is a penalty at the end of the day and we move on. “
Garry Monk gave his opinion.
George Friend scored in the penalty shootout that Birmingham City set his undefeated record on Saturday.
The Blues defender admits he is “very frustrated” by Graham Scott’s resolve to penalize Adam Clayton for his challenge to Callum Paterson.
That resolution gave Barry Bannan what turned out to be the purpose of the game and saw the Blues slide towards their first league defeat in five.
Even Paterson himself admitted that the touch had been minimal, on Wednesday he felt they had a strong deguyd in the first half when Kristian Pedersen became enraged with Josh Windass as the Owl boy ran to the goal.
“I don’t think it’s a penalty, ” said Friend. ” I didn’t look back and I don’t think I’m going to do it because I don’t think it’s going to replace my opinion. At the time, I was very frustrated. “
“I’m sorry for Clayts because I don’t think he’s looking to make contact, he knows the ball’s going, just disappointing.
“Again, it’s not an open match goal, they created a few occasions in the first half, we forced ourselves again, I was hoping as a defender a new blank sheet to be honest.
“It’s frustrating when the referee provides them with something like that, in my opinion, at that moment it’s justified.
“He walks away from the goal, why would you?As the goal technique, it will possibly look a little different, but run towards the band line or the corner flag.
“In my book, you must not correct a mistake before, again, I did not see that of the first half, in any case, the fault would have come out of the usual paths anyway if it is still the law. “
Birmingham City defender George Friend spoke to the media after his team’s 1-0 loss to Sheffield on Wednesday.
Dissatisfied with the penalty decision, he admitted that the Blues needed to get off to a better start in the games and praised Jonathan Leko’s potential.
Here’s a transcript of what the 33-year-old said.
It takes too long to get started, unfortunately more minutes are lost in the first half when we don’t impose ourselves well enough on the opposition.
But take a positive note on how we ended the games. Look at Rotherham, we got the penalty and this afternoon we may have scored some games to win the game.
But I hope that in the next few games we will not leave it so late and that we can start better, especially at home.