Chelsea & Man City dealt blow in race for 15-year-old Premier League record-breaker | OneFootball

Leicester City boss Ruud van Nistelrooy provided a rare piece of positive news for beleaguered Foxes fans by claiming that a new deal for the club's sought-after starlet Jeremy Monga was on the cusp of completion.

The prodigious forward became only the second 15-year-old to ever appear in the Premier League when he made his top-flight debut against Newcastle United back in April. Monga was three months older than Arsenal's Ethan Nwaneri - who set the record in 2022 - but, unlike the Gunners starlet, Leicester's gem has amassed more than an hour of top-flight football this season.

Long before Monga became the youngest player in Leicester's Premier League history, Manchester City and Chelsea had reportedly identified him as a talent of extreme interest. The Athletic also claim that Real Madrid have previously shown interest in the prolific record-breaker.

Van Nistelrooy did his best to downplay this growing speculation earlier in the season and struck an even more confident tone in the aftermath of Monga's latest cameo against Nottingham Forest.

Jeremy Monga is the first 15-year-old to ever take a shot in the Premier League / Michael Regan/GettyImages

"We want a future with him and hoping we can announce a contract with him soon," Van Nistelrooy told talkSPORT.

The Dutch boss turned to the topic of Monga again in his post-match press conference. "If he can stay and this is his future, and he can make minutes and build him into his pathway," Van Nistelrooy noted. "I have had many conversations with him and his family and hopefully he can sign soon. But it is up to him.

"It is a joy to work with him. We sometimes talk about his GCSEs and mathematics, and I have to help him with that also, but then we talk about football also. He nearly scored a winner here also. That would have been a fairytale."

Deep into stoppage time of Leicester's 2-2 draw with local rivals Forest at the City Ground, Jamie Vardy led one last counter-attack which ended with the ball at Monga's feet. The teen, who had seen an earlier effort blocked, rifled a shot on target which Mats Sels tipped over.

If Monga is to stick with already-relegated Leicester, he will only have two remaining games to become the youngest scorer in Premier League history. Should the 15-year-old join another top-flight side, he would overtake James Vaughan's long-standing record with a goal at any time before 5 April 2026.