With no Jamie Vardy nor Ricardo Pereira on the pitch at Carrow Road, Maresca had to hand the armband to a new.
Enzo Maresca handed Hamza Choudhury the captain’s armband for the victory over Norwich as he wants his Leicester City players to take on more responsibility.
With no Jamie Vardy nor Ricardo Pereira in the City starting line-up at Carrow Road, the pair sharing the captaincy in the Championship fixtures prior to Wednesday, Choudhury stepped up. Although, at 25, he was one of the older players in a young side, there were more experienced players that Maresca could have turned to, such as Harry Winks or Jannik Vestergaard.
But Choudhury is a homegrown player and one the squad members that Maresca is teaching to be a leader, with James Justin another. So it was the academy graduate that led the team out on Wednesday evening.
“Simply because he’s one of the academy players,” Maresca said when asked about his decision to make Choudhury captain. “He was born here.
“Also in the way he works and we are trying to give some of them responsibility. Hamza is not in this moment an academy player joining the first team. Absolutely not. Now he’s in the first team and he has to show responsibility and leadership.”
Choudhury, playing in the full-back-turned-midfielder position usually occupied by Ricardo, had a solid game on Wednesday, contributing to a fine defensive effort to help earn just City’s second Championship clean sheet of the season. It was his first league start under Maresca.
“Proud to lead this incredible team to another victory!” he wrote on social media after the game. It was not the first time he has taken the armband though. He also captained City in the Carabao Cup two years ago as they drew 2-2 with Brighton before winning on penalties.
Leave a Reply