JibrinThe one that got away: Former Foxes academy star now ready to quit Merseyside—and the silence from Seagrave is DEAFENING.
For Leicester City supporters watching from the King Power, the feeling is unmistakably sickening.
This is the teenager who spent a DECADE in Leicester’s academy system. The boy who joined the Foxes as a wide-eyed youngster, progressed through the ranks, and was tipped as the next crown jewel to emerge from Seagrave.
Then, in August 2023, Liverpool came calling. And Leicester let him walk.
Now, the 18-year-old midfield prodigy is reportedly ready to walk AGAIN—this time away from Anfield—unless Arne Slot hands him the minutes he believes he deserves.
The numbers that will break Foxes’ hearts
For a player who became Liverpool’s youngest-ever appearance maker in the FA Cup at just 16, the 2025/26 campaign has been a sobering reality check.
According to detailed reports, the youngster has managed just 2 minutes of Premier League football across the entire season—both coming as stoppage-time cameos. His total senior minutes across all competitions barely scrape past the 200-minute mark.
Yet when he HAS played, the signs have been tantalising.
In his first-ever professional start against Southampton in the Carabao Cup, he completed 55 of 59 passes (93% accuracy) , registered an interception, and looked utterly composed beyond his years.
The Daily Mail handed him a 7/10 rating, writing: “Plenty of encouraging signs on the 17-year-old’s first start for Liverpool as he showed a maturity beyond his years and showed he can play at this level.”
Sports Illustrated added: “He looked very, very composed on the ball for someone who is only 17 years old.”
And yet, the minutes have dried up.
The Champions League history that stings most
For Leicester fans, the cruelest twist came on a European night earlier this season.
With qualification for the Champions League round of 16 already secured, Arne Slot made wholesale changes for Liverpool’s visit to PSV Eindhoven. The Leicester-born prospect came off the bench for the final 26 minutes, replacing Andy Robertson.
In doing so, he became Liverpool’s youngest-ever debutant in European competition, aged just 17 years and 213 days.
Let that sink in. A player raised in Leicester’s academy, who spent 10 years wearing Foxes colours, now holds a slice of Liverpool European history.
And Leicester? They’re fighting for survival in the Championship, desperately searching for creativity, while the boy they let go makes history on the biggest stage.
The player at the centre of the storm
The anger among Foxes faithful is understandable. Trey Nyoni was born in England to Zimbabwean parents and grew up in the Leicester area before joining the club’s academy as a child.
His father, Joseph Nyoni—a Zimbabwean immigrant and larger-than-life character from Mbare—moved the family to Leicester specifically to support his son’s development. He was Trey’s biggest hype man, his number one fan, the voice telling anyone who would listen that his boy would play in the Premier League.
He was right. He just didn’t expect it to be in someone else’s shirt.
“When Trey was little, he used to accompany his dad to our Zimbabwean social football matches,” a family friend told The NewsHawks. “Joze would be the most vocal of them all! But he knew, we all knew, he was done as a footballer. Yet he was a big dreamer, and his big dream was his son becoming a top professional footballer.”
That dream is now being realised—just not at the King Power.
The ‘poisoned chalice’ of academy development
The frustration is amplified by recent comments from former Leicester boss Steve Cooper, who insisted the club’s primary objective was to produce players for the first team—not to sell them for profit.
“What’s the main objective of an academy?” Cooper asked last year. “It’s to produce players for the first team or, maybe at some other places, it’s to sell on and make money. Everyone knows my background, and my commitment to that.”
Yet Nyoni slipped through the net.
Leicester did receive compensation when Liverpool poached him—the standard fee for an academy player of his age—but in footballing terms, it was a pittance. And now, with his contract expiring in June 2026, he could leave Anfield for even less.
The Jeremy Monga fear
There is now genuine concern among Leicester supporters that history is about to repeat itself.
Jeremy Monga, the electric 15-year-old winger currently tearing it up for Leicester’s under-21s, is already attracting attention from bigger clubs. Ruud van Nistelrooy—before his departure—had hinted at first-team football for Monga on the horizon.
But as one outlet warned recently: “With some big clubs already scouting the teenager, Leicester must do everything in their power to keep their precious talent. Monga is a genuine wonderkid who could become the next superstar to emerge from Seagrave.”
The fear is that Monga could become the next Nyoni—the next one that got away.
What happens now?
Nyoni is expected to assess his options at the end of the season. While he remains fully committed to Liverpool for the duration of the current campaign, the summer represents a crossroads.
If Slot cannot integrate him into the first-team picture, the midfielder will push for a solution that prioritizes his career trajectory.
For Leicester fans, the situation is agonising. They watch from the Championship, scrapping for every point, while the boy they raised makes history in the Champions League and contemplates his next move.
And the question that haunts the King Power:
What if he’d stayed?
Jibrin
