“I’ll try to get a loan, I’m 21 now, I’m at that age where I need to develop, I need as much game-time as possible to make a name for myself, then I can come back to Leicester”- Highly rated Leicester City winger confirms desire to leave club on loan this summer

Leicester City winger Wanya Marcal hopes to leave the club on loan this summer to develop his talent and aid his long-term future at the King Power Stadium.

Marcal was on the fringes of the senior squad last season, but he is well-liked by the club and was awarded a new contract, tying him down to 2026. He now hopes to spend a year away from City so he can earn more game-time and improve, with the hope of challenging for a regular first-team spot in the future.

The 21-year-old made eight appearances in all competitions last season, but they may be harder to come by with City now in the Premier League and with new recruits coming in. Abdul Fatawu, Stephy Mavididi, and Kasey McAteer will be vying for starts, while Steve Cooper has strengthened further out wide with Bobby De Cordova-Reid.

“Ideally, I’ll try to get a loan and get my name out there as much as possible,” Marcal said on the Ballers Mindset podcast. “I know I can play men’s football and that’s what I need to do.

“I’m 21 now. I’m at that age where I need to develop. I need as much game-time as possible to make a name for myself, then I can come back to Leicester and stay in the team in the season after or the season after that.”

It had looked like Marcal might play a prominent role last season when, in the third game of the Championship campaign and in his first home league start for the club, he scored the opening goal of a 2-1 win over Cardiff. But then, he didn’t even make the squad for the trip to Rotherham the week after.

Enzo Maresca said at the time: “I think the young players, they need to earn things every day in the training sessions and work hard. With young players, you need to give them not everything soon. You need to give them small things day by day. It was just a technical decision.”

Discussing his omission from the squad at Rotherham a year on, Marcal said: “It definitely brought me back down to earth. I didn’t really understand it. He never really told me why. Maybe I became complacent throughout that training week or something like that. I just took it on the chin and carried on working.”