Ex-Luton Dewsbury-Hall loanee named UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season
Former Luton loanee Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has had a tremendous breakthrough year at Leicester City by being named in the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season.
The squad, selected by UEFA’s technical observer panel, saw the 23-year-old selected in midfield alongside Dimitiri Payet (Marseille), Luis Sinisterra (Feyenoord) and Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma).
He featured 12 times in the competition, scoring twice, as the Foxes reached the semi-final, beaten 2-1 on aggregate by eventual winners Roma.
It was the culmination of a brilliant campaign for Dewsbury-Hall, who spent the previous term at Kenilworth Road, making 41 appearances and scoring three goals, winning the Ian Pearce Memorial Trophy, Junior Supporters Player of the Season, Internet Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season.
Back at the King Power Stadium, he featured in the Community Shield win over Manchester City in August, making 44 appearances in all competitions, also scoring three goals, including his first high-flying strike.
It was enough for him to be named Young Player of the Season and Player of the Season at City’s end-of-season awards night too, because speaking to LCFC TV about his double honour, he said “This award is special to me because they are your co-workers.
“I’m happy. I was afraid at the start of the season that it would be difficult to fit in with the guys because it’s a very good dressing room. There are a lot of very, very good players.
“It means a lot that they took me.
“I’ve made some really good friendships. I have lifelong friends in this team and that shows it’s a family club. I hope that continues. It’s amazing, I can’t lie. For me, this is the best reward.
“You are with your teammates every day for months, you are with some of them more than your family, so you learn a lot about them.
“That they recognize what I’ve done this season, it really means a lot. I’m really grateful to them. They’ve been so good to me since the start of the season.
“They brought me in, they integrated me well and I feel part of the team, so I’m really honoured.”
After getting his first Premier League start in the 2-1 loss at Aston Villa in December, Dewsbury-Hall hasn’t looked back, starting 23 of the club’s next 24 top-flight games.
The midfielder had supported himself last year to be a success if given the chanceand on how his season has gone, he added: “It’s a bit surreal to be honest.
“My teammates saw how hard I worked, even until December.
“I was working as hard as I could, hoping and knowing the opportunity would come.
“They may have seen that in me, that I didn’t let myself be affected, I wasn’t sulking.
“I was really trying to be in the best shape possible at the moment.
“When it happened, I did well, so it’s fantastic.
“I know it’s one of the most ruthless games in the world. I knew when I got that chance that I had to be really on it or I’d lose it. It’s the same every game .
“I go into every game knowing that you are one game away from losing your place.
“You have to do everything you can and play as well as you can to keep that, not just for yourself, but for the team.
“That’s always the mentality that I will have. Hopefully that will continue to move me forward to bigger and better things.”
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