Leicester City midfielder Sammy Braybrooke has opened up on why he signed for Chesterfield earlier this month, after spending the first half of the season at Newport County
Sammy Braybrooke has spoken about his January move to Chesterfield(Image: Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock)
Sammy Braybrooke has defended Leicester City’s decision to send him out on loan to Chesterfield insisting that the move feels like “the right fit”.
Some City fans fumed after Braybrooke, 21, was recalled from his loan spell at Newport County and then sent straight out to fellow League Two side Chesterfield earlier this month, despite interest from a higher level.
The 2004-born midfielder impressed at The Exiles, scoring two goals and providing two assists in 22 appearances during the first half of the season before he returned to Leicester on New Year’s Eve.
There had been talk that a League One move was on the cards for Braybrooke, but he instead joined Chesterfield – who play in the same division as Newport – on January 4.
Explaining why he ended up signing for Chesterfield, Braybrooke told Leicestershire Live: “There was that talk about going to a higher league, but I looked at it from a point of I just want to play football really and I want to go to a team that suits me, that I’ll fit in straight away.
“I didn’t want to adapt my game to change, and that’s what you want when you’re a loan player. You want to just go straight in because you can run out of time.
“You could go four games without playing and then that’s a month and you’ve only got three months left, so you want to fit in straight away. I feel like it’s (Chesterfield) the right fit for that.”
Newport, who appointed Leicester legend Christian Fuchs as their new manager in late November, have endured a difficult season so far and sit bottom of League Two having won just four of their 24 matches.
In contrast, Chesterfield are right in the promotion mix in the fourth tier and sit seventh, just three points off the automatic places. Paul Cook’s side have won 10, drawn 10 and lost five of their 25 league fixtures this term.
Leicester City midfielder Sammy Braybrooke in action for loan club Newport County(Image: Harry Murphy/Getty Images)
Chesterfield utilise a much more front-footed and possession-based brand of football than Newport. Indeed, the Spireites (59) average 12% more ball possession this season than the Exiles (47). They have also scored 18 more goals and average more shots per-90.
“I think the move came about towards the end of December, they (Chesterfield) got in contact with my agent,” Braybrooke said. “And then obviously my contract at Newport was only up until the 31st of December anyway, so the gaffer (Paul Cook) just gave me a rang, and we had a little chat. Then a few days later I decided that is the one.
“I gave them a ring back, they already sorted out everything with us and that was it. I was buzzing, I think it’s a team I want to play in. They play football the way I see football, or how it should be played, and I think it will suit me down to the ground to be honest.”
Braybrooke made eight appearances for Newport under Fuchs and it’s safe to say he loved working with the former City left-back. “Yeah, he was very enjoyable, to be fair,” he said on Fuchs, who worked as a coach in the United States before moving back to the United Kingdom and securing the Newport job last year.
“He’s got a very good understanding of the game. He knows what he wants his team to do, so you’re never really second-guessing yourself when you’re on the pitch.
“There are no grey areas and he wants to win at the end of the day. If you have to change to win, that’s all that matters. He only wants good things from the players and the staff and everyone around him. So yeah, it was very enjoyable.”
Braybrooke made his Chesterfield debut during last weekend’s 2-2 draw against MK Dons. He was thrown straight into the starting XI by Cook and shone, playing the full 90 minutes and winning the fans’ Man of the Match.
It was a result that kept the Spireites in the play-off places and well in the promotion race with 21 matches to go. They were due to go up against Colchester on Saturday, but the game was postponed due to a frozen pitch, meaning the Derbyshire side are next in action against leaders Bromley this weekend.
Leicester City’s Sammy Braybrooke has been one of the top players in League Two this season(Image: Malcolm Couzens/Getty Images)
On a personal note, Braybrooke is hoping to play as much as possible and develop ahead of returning to Leicester in the summer. From a team perspective, meanwhile, the Wigston star is eyeing up a promotion on his CV.
He said: “Yeah, part of the point is just to play as much football as possible and play to the best of my ability and show people what I can do. Just show people what I’ve done at Newport and bring it into a different environment.
“As a team, I think we’ve got the belief and the quality that we can do good things this year and I’d say promotion is an aim. It’s not unrealistic, it’s definitely a realistic target. We’re just looking to take it game by game and have a strong finish this season.”
Braybrooke, who joined Leicester’s academy as a six-year-old, has made just one first-team appearance for the Foxes and that came against Newport in a Carabao Cup fourth round tie in November 2022.
He had been on course to feature more for Brendan Rodgers but an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury in February 2023 hampered his progress, with the playmaker spending more than a year on the sidelines.
Sammy Braybrooke made his Leicester City debut in the 3-0 win over Newport(Image: James Williamson – AMA/Getty Images)
“I still think about the debut that day, every day since,” Braybrooke said, when asked about his Leicester debut. “I loved it, like you’re making your debut in front of all the fans and no one could have really wrote it a few years later I’d be going back to Newport. But yeah, it’s something that I enjoyed a lot, to be honest.
“Obviously I got injured a few months, about two months after that. So it was a bit of a downer, but I’m just slowly finding my form and I feel like I’m back to my best, to be honest.”
Long-term, Braybrooke is determined to force his way into the Leicester starting XI on a weekly basis. Hamza Choudhury, Ben Nelson and Jakub Stolarczyk are among the current academy graduates who spent time out on loan before returning and becoming first-team regulars.
“It’s the club that I’ve grown up and always played for,” Braybrooke finished. “Obviously when you’re young, you dream of being a footballer and as you progress further through the ranks, you think this might be a target that I can reach. So yeah, definitely something I want to do. I’d love to play for Leicester.
“I know the environment, I know the King Power, it’s a pleasure to play there. There’s loads of people at Leicester you could look at who have been on loan, played in the 21s, been on loan, came back and they just took their career from there. So yeah, it’s definitely trying to follow in their footsteps.”