The inside track on Will Alves, Cardiff City’s new trickster who is ‘mesmerising’ in full flow

 

The inside track on Will Alves, Cardiff City’s new trickster who is ‘mesmerising’ in full flow

The loan signing of the Leicester City teenager was the only signing of deadline day for the Bluebirds

Cardiff City’s final capture of the winter transfer window was Leicester City teenager Will Alves.

 

The England youth international has joined the Bluebirds on loan for the remainder of the season, having been on the fringes in the Premier League for the most part this term.

Still just 19, Alves is far from the finished article, but noises from Leicester City fans are hugely positive. Cardiff were hopeful of adding more options at the top end of the pitch, with Alves capable of playing in a number of different positions.

But with so few first-team appearances to his name, he is still a relative unknown to Bluebirds supporters. With that in mind, we sought the expert insight of Jordan Blackwell, the Foxes correspondent for our sister title LeicestershireLive. Here’s what he had to say.

 

– Can you give us a little bit of background on Will Alves and how he’s got to this stage of his career?

 

“He grew up in Leicestershire and has been in the club’s academy since he was a boy. It was when he was around 15 that his name started to emerge as one to watch and very quickly from there he made his senior debut aged 16.

He was dancing around Watford players twice his age in that game and the hype among Leicester fans really grew from there. I think internally there was the perception that he was the best prospect the academy had produced since Harvey Barnes, and potentially with the talent to even exceed him.

 

 

“It’s now been three years since his senior debut and his progress has obviously been stunted by his injury. He’s been very slowly eased back in, sometimes to the frustration of supporters, who have been clamouring for him to be given more senior opportunities.” Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

 

– He suffered a nasty injury while playing for the academy – a torn ACL in December 2022. How has that impacted his trajectory or the player or person he is today?

 

“It does not feel an exaggeration to say he’d have played plenty more Leicester matches by now had he not suffered such a bad injury. But 12 months recovering did allow him to bulk up and when he came back, possibly because of his age as well, he looked a lot physically stronger, and more difficult to push off the ball.

 

“Watching his performances this season, both for the under-21s and as a substitute for the first team, it felt like he needed a loan spell in the summer. They tried to find him one, but Steve Cooper said none of the clubs that came forward were the right fit, so they chose to keep him.