Amandine Miquel is used to developing young talent and she is eager to do the same with Leicester City.
The Frenchwoman was appointed the club’s manager in July after seven seasons with Reims in her native France.
A 1-1 draw with Bristol City in the Women’s League Cup on Wednesday gave her an opportunity to test the club’s brightest young talent and it is clear she is pleased with what she saw.
Among them was 19-year-old winger Shana Chossenotte, who got on the scoresheet, as well as highly rated England youth international Ruby Mace, 21.
“Four or five from the academy could definitely start for the first team,” said Miquel, when asked on Friday about the squad depth she has available at Leicester.
On the same day, four of the club’s youngsters were called up to England’s Under-17 Women’s World Cup squad, with the tournament taking place this month.
Miquel will be without goalkeeper Rebekah Dowsett, defenders Nelly Las and Simone Sherwood, as well as forward Denny Draper.
But while Miquel is sad to lose them for a month, she is excited to see the talent pool being created within the club’s academy.
“It’s very good. I’m happy to share with England and wish that they go as far as they can in that competition,” added Miquel.
“For me, [developing young players is] the most important thing. I was a bit surprised when I saw the age of my team here, but I saw that I still have the youngest squad out of the 12 [WSL] clubs.
“I think that bigger teams, or ones higher up the table, tend to forget that they need to play. If you want to have a very good player at 18 or 19, she has to start playing at this level at 16. She should be around the team much more.
“We have four or five that can be in this group. When there are opportunities like this [in the League Cup], we will use them.”
Is the Women’s League Cup valuable?
Miquel said the Women’s League Cup is a “useful” opportunity to rotate her squad and give gameplay to young players.
It is a competition that has drawn criticism previously, with several WSL managers pointing to a congested fixture schedule and the growing number of injuries.
While still new to the league, Miquel said she needed to experience a full season “to have a good point of view” on whether she agrees, but so far, she has found it a valuable competition.
“For now, I think it’s good. Maybe when I have four or five more injured players I would say ‘oh, now it’s not good’,” said Miquel.
“But for this first game it was good because it gave me the occasion to see other players in an official game which is different to a friendly.”