Evans expects Leicester relegation to make major impact on pre-season

Forward Evans will return to City this summer after a few months on loan at hometown club Northampton in League One.

While the Cobblers endured a miserable run of form over the second half of the campaign, suffering relegation, Evans made a positive impression with his speed and terrier-like work rate. The 17-year-old also scored the first two goals of his senior career.

His focus is now on playing regular first-team football for City in the third tier. While he knows his experiences at Northampton will bode him well, he’s also aware that he has to fight for his spot.

Evans previously said that he was perhaps too complacent last summer, feeling that his spot in the senior squad was confirmed following a couple of substitute appearances in the Premier League under Ruud van Nistelrooy. But he didn’t play a single senior match for City this term.

But it’s not just memories of last summer that are propelling Evans, but the knowledge that many of the fellow teenagers in the squad will feel City’s relegation has opened the door for them to clinch a first-team berth.

“I haven’t booked any holidays yet, I’m more focused on what’s going to happen next season,” Evans told Sky Sports.

“I’ve got to give everything I can. They’re going into League One, which feels really weird. I’m thinking ‘Wow, it feels weird to be going down into League One.’ We’ve not seen that for a long time.

“I want to break into the first team. I’ve played League One level for the past five months and I think that’ll definitely benefit me going back into pre-season.

“I can’t go back into pre-season and be too complacent. I’ve got to fight like every young lad in the same position as me, from the Under-21s or breaking through into the first team.

“Everyone’s going to think they’ve got a chance, so I’ve got to make sure I can be the best version of myself to give myself the best chance to break into the team.”

Evans is one of a number of homegrown players who have been out on loan and are expected to get a chance to prove themselves over the summer, alongside the likes of Sammy Braybrooke, Will Alves, Jayden Joseph, Tom Wilson-Brown and Henry Cartwright.

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