Having made a senior appearance in the Capital One Cup tie against Shrewsbury, Michael Cain was loaned out to Walsall on October 20th and the initial period was extended for the remainder of the season
In this article, Neil Ravenscroft, Chairman of the Walsall Supporters Trust, gives an overview of Michael’s loan spell
“Walsall had a blow at the start of the season, when it became obvious to the management that one of our key players in midfield, the ex WBA midfielder Sam Mantom, was not going to recover from his knee injury in a hurry.
Dean Smith decided to bring in a completely unknown young midfielder to fill in for Mantom, the Foxes very own Michael Cain.
Cain had some big shoes to fill, as Mantom was one of our most popular players, but soon showed he was quite capable of doing so. We tend to play a 4 2 3 1, and Cain fitted in well with the evergreen Adam Chambers as one of the midfield two.
Cain is tall enough to be useful in the air, can tackle, can shoot and can pass. He fits perfectly into the role we gave him and can count himself very unfortunate to have been left out of the team for the Johnstone’s Paint final at Wembley for the returning Mantom.
Towards the end of the season, Dean Smith did change his preferred formation to a 4 3 3, with Cain, Mantom and Chambers as the midfield three and that did prove successful. The one weakness of his game is that he should score more from midfield, given his attributes.
Leicester fans will, of course, want to know whether he can make the grade there. I think that the club’s survival following that run at the end of the season (many congratulations, by the way) mean that they will have to think very carefully whether to keep him or not.
I don’t think he’ll make the grade at Premiership level, but could at Championship level and certainly will become a very good player at third tier level. That means that the club may want to keep him and send him out on loan again next season until it’s clear whether they can establish themselves in the top flight.
The majority of Walsall fans would have him back like a shot, but will wish him well no matter what happens from here!”
You can read the latest from the Walsall Trust via this link http://www.walsallfctrust.org.uk