Tawanda Maswanhise heads a list of six young Leicester City players being released this summer.
The club’s complete retained list shows half a dozen players from the development squad will join Kelechi Iheanacho, Dennis Praet, and Marc Albrighton in departing the King Power Stadium. Meanwhile, there are three prospects who, like Wilfred Ndidi, have been offered new deals with the club.
Of the young players departing, Maswanhise is perhaps the biggest surprise. The Zimbabwean international, who made his senior City debut in the FA Cup in January, has been one of the development squad’s leading talents for the past few years.
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He is being let go and the next step of his career could be with Stockport. At the end of April, Maswanhise went on trial with the League Two winners and scored a hat-trick in a reserve team match against Brentford.
Also among those leaving is centre-back Paul Appiah. He signed from Aston Villa a couple of years ago, and spent the majority of this season on loan at non-league Maidstone United, playing a role in their historic run to the FA Cup fifth round.
Left-back Shane Flynn announced his departure last month. Winner of the club’s development squad player of the season in 2021, Flynn said he had been “disappointed with the lack of treatment and lack of support” from City while he’s been out with injury over the past 18 months.
The list of released players is completed by full-back Iestyn Hughes, goalkeeper Arlo Doherty, and midfielder Jack Lewis. There could be more leaving if deals cannot be agreed with a trio of forwards.
Chris Popov, Amani Richards, and Kian Pennant, who have all led the line for City’s Under-21s this season, have been offered new contracts ahead of the expiry of their deals at the end of this month. It may be that decisions have already been reached, with the retained list filed to the EFL in May, but no word has yet been given on whether the trio will be sticking around.
The full list of City players can be found below, with (o) signifying that a contract offer has been made.
Contracted: Mirsad Ali, Will Alves, Zach Booth, Sammy Braybrooke, Logan Briggs, Lewis Brunt, Tom Cannon, Henry Cartwright, Hamza Choudhury, Conor Coady, Brandon Cover, Patson Daka, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Oli Ewing, Wout Faes, Harry French, Harvey Godsmark-Ford, Kevon Gray, Ben Grist, Mads Hermansen, Deniche Hill, Daniel Iversen, James Justin, Josh King, Victor Kristiansen, Jahmari Lindsay, Wanya Marcal, Stephy Mavididi, Kasey McAteer, Wilfred Ndidi (o), Ben Nelson, Nathan Opoku, Kian Pennant (o), Ricardo Pereira, Chris Popov (o), Arjan Raikhy, Amani Richards (o), Boubakary Soumare, Harry Souttar, Jakub Stolarczyk, Luke Thomas, Silko Thomas, Jamie Vardy, Jannik Vestergaard, Danny Ward, Tom Wilson-Brown, Harry Winks, Joe Wormleighton, Brad Young.
Scholars: Bade Aluko, Bobby Amartey, Stevie Bausor, Ryan Donnelly, Jake Donohue, Kaleb Dyke, Reece Evans, Alfie Fisken, Jayden Joseph, Reiss Khela, Cheyenne Loureiro, Liam McAlinney, Lewis McNab, Tommy Neale, Toby Onanaye, Kirsten Otchere, Tristen Thomas, Yassine Toure.
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