Leicester City transfer announced as young midfielder leaves
The attacking midfielder played for Brendan Rodgers’ first team in pre-season aged just 16 and was among the substitutes for a Europa League tie against Sporting Braga
Leicester City Under-21s midfielder Ethan Fitzhugh has completed a permanent move to Banbury United, the National League North side have confirmed.
Fitzhugh, who first came to prominence at City after featuring in a pre-season game aged 16, has been a regular at development squad level for a number of years. But now he leaves, heading to the sixth-tier side based in Oxfordshire.
Catching the attention of Brendan Rodgers in training, attacking midfielder Fitzhugh played for City in a pre-season friendly at Cheltenham in the summer of 2019, when he was only 16. In 2020, he was then on the bench for a Europa League tie against Braga, but didn’t make it onto the pitch.
He leaves City without having made a senior appearance but having been a regular part of Ben Petty’s development side over the past few years. He played 35 games across Premier League 2 and the EFL Trophy, scoring four goals. His last outing was a year ago, in January 2023, when he suffered an ACL injury.
Fitzhugh has now recovered and will hope to kickstart his senior career with Banbury. There, he links up with former City academy striker Adi Yussuf, who has been doubling up his playing duties with coaching at Seagrave, working alongside Petty to help the Under-21s.
Banbury boss Mark Jones said: “Ethan came to our attention through Adi Yussuf’s work with Leicester City’s U21s. He is an exciting attacking midfielder that will hopefully give us the creativity in the final third that we have been searching for.”
