“You could say making your Premier League debut at 22 is quite late, but I've taken a different pathway. I'm so happy I did it."
It was a process that helped define Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
A loan spell in England's second-tier has allowed some of the country's brightest talents to realise their full potential of late. Mason Mount, Emile Smith Rowe and Conor Gallagher are prime examples of youngsters honing their craft at Championship level before going on to establish themselves in the Premier League and beyond.
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The names go on. Liverpool playmaker Harvey Elliott flourished at Blackburn and Trevoh Chalobah picked up valuable experience at Huddersfield before going on to play for European champions Chelsea, not to mention Marc Guehi and Leeds loanee Ben White, who ‘cried for an hour’ after being called up to play for England at Euro 2020.
In fact, out of the 26-man Three Lions squad that made it to the European Championship final against Italy last year, a total of 23 either made their debut in EFL competition or played in an EFL academy - a stat that should give you some indication of how important the second tier has become.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall will be hoping to one day fall under that bracket after flourishing away from parent club Leicester City. He spent the 2020/21 campaign at Championship side Luton Town after a six month spell in League One with Blackpool, where he quickly became a fan favourite.
In those key periods of development, the midfielder was thrust into a new environment with experienced professionals and was able to adapt to his surroundings quickly. Looking back, he understands how important a loan move has been in his career to date.
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This, however, is not a career pathway for everyone. Some have failed to live up to expectations, whilst others naturally adjust to top flight football. But that definitely was not the case for Dewsbury-Hall, who cannot stress enough the impact it made on his overall game.
"I don't think I would be doing what I am today if it wasn't for those loan spells," he tells SPORTbible.
For the young midfielder, it had got to a point where the academy graduate was ready to play first-team football on a regular basis. Shortly after turning 20, he spoke to management at Leicester and came to the conclusion that it was time to go and experience what men's football had to offer after progressing through the youth ranks.
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"I learned so much," he says. "And if you don't learn, then you are doing something wrong. You have got to be a sponge in those types of situations; take everything in because it's only going to help you when you eventually go back to your parent club. You can add all those little things you have learned and evolve as a player.
“For me, those loan spells were perfect."
Since coming back to the King Power in July, the classy all-rounder has established himself as a first-team regular, earning praise from fans and pundits alike. Even one of the world’s best managers, Jurgen Klopp, had a word when Liverpool came to town in December.
Now, the 23-year-old is keen on sending a message to England manager Gareth Southgate - both on and off the pitch - after a breakthrough campaign with his boyhood club.
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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall was that kid at school who never sat still. Growing up in Shepshed, a small town in Leicestershire, the energetic youngster spent the majority of his childhood playing football in a field opposite his house.
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At the age of four, he would inherit the nickname 'Baby Beckham' after a local newspaper ran a story about his talents. Kiernan's mum, Vanessa, bought her son a mini-goal and the Loughborough Echo arrived on a mission to find him a new club. "It was a ploy from the paper to help get a team to sign me," Dewsbury-Hall laughs.
“I was really young at the time and my mum would ring all these different clubs and ask if I could join. They always said I was too young but this newspaper came round my house one day and did a little feature. They were watching me in the garden, taking pictures of me playing. They must have looked at it and thought ‘oh, he's actually alright!’”
Vanessa spotted a unique talent early on. She was the person that "did everything" for her son growing up so naturally, her reaction to finding out Kiernan was about to make his first-team debut for Leicester in their Premier League clash against Aston Villa was an emotional one.
In an interview with The Athletic last year, she expressed her pride after being told the news. “We only found out on Saturday and I just started crying,” she said. “It is all he ever wanted and he has worked so hard. It just shows dreams can come true if you work hard enough and he so deserves it."
A few days earlier, on December 1, 2021, the midfielder impressed after coming off the bench against Southampton. He was the catalyst for Leicester in that second half as James Maddison helped the Foxes pick up a point after a slow start at Saint Mary's.
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Brendan Rodgers praised the energy Dewsbury-Hall brought to that game, and said it was exactly what the team needed.
After such an impressive outing against the Saints, a start against Villa was the ultimate reward for his efforts. "It was the day before the game," he remembers. "The manager read out the team in training and I was in it. I was like 'wow'. That feeling. I can't even describe it. To know you are starting in the Premier League for your boyhood club. That is what you dream of as a kid."
Rodgers has played a pivotal role in Dewsbury-Hall's career to date. He was the man who wanted to send the academy product out on loan after seeing potential while playing in the reserves.
He knew what Kiernan was capable of and on his return from last season’s successful loan spell at Luton Town, the pair sat down to discuss the future. "We had a really good chat," Dewsbury-Hall says. "He said that was the plan for me to go and get a good bulk of experience and games in a good league. It was a win-win for both.
“He saw I had evolved from a boy to a man. I had the swagger. I had the confidence of being a first-team player. That was down to the experience of going out on loan. He told me it was time to kick on and impress. He said I would have to be patient but when you get your chance, take it with both hands.
“He believed in me and it gave me confidence. That's all you want from your manager."
And take that opportunity he did. A month before joining up with the rest of the squad last summer, Dewsbury-Hall decided to sacrifice his time and energy to become the best version of himself. A strict fitness regime meant that he was one of Leicester's top performers in pre-season testing.
"In my head, I was thinking 'Leicester haven't seen me in a year now. I've been away on loan, so I need to come back and show them the difference in me,’ I needed to show them that I had gone from a young lad to an established first-team player.
"I remember thinking… ‘what am I going to do?’ I just worked as hard as I could in the off-season - and returned in the best shape possible. I wanted the best physique. I wanted to be the fittest as well. I wanted to make them think 'wow, he's really evolved. He's a different person.'
"That was my mindset and I knew if I did that, then it would give me a good foundation to kick on."
Going above and beyond on his return to Leicester made a big impression. A start in the Europa League against Legia Warsaw in September was an important step and soon, he would come off the bench in five top-flight games before that breakthrough start against Aston Villa.
In December alone, he made seven appearances for the Foxes, including impressive outings against Liverpool and Manchester City. In the space of a few months, Dewsbury-Hall had gone from playing for Luton in a final day defeat at Loftus Road to coming up against a destructive Pep Guardiola side at The Etihad.
"I remember thinking, I'm playing at the pinnacle here," he said about last year's 6-3 defeat to City. "I thought if I did well here, then people would see I was doing well against these types of teams. It was good... tough, but good. And it was a big learning curve for me.
"I imposed my style but also managed to get little tips from some really good players. I was looking at Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva during the match and analysed what they were doing to stand out. You take that into your game as well."
Dewsbury-Hall, who supported Manchester United as a kid, is someone who is always open to learning from others in regards to his overall game. Growing up, he would often spend hours watching YouTube compilations of Paul Scholes before trying to replicate his idol on the pitch.
To this day, he credits Scholes' ability to pull the strings from central areas as a key part of his development.
"I just think he [Scholes] was a master," he says with a big grin. "He was someone I looked up to growing up. I was always trying to get little things off him and add them to my game. He was always the main man for me. He must have had five or six eyes in his head. Some of the things he used to do, you'd think 'how did he see that?'
"He was my idol. It's always been him and it always will be. Everything he did was unbelievable. I think he is one of the best midfielders of all time. There are parts of our games that are similar as well. We're both small and we're both technically sound. I think I've seen every clip you could probably watch of Paul Scholes on YouTube."
The 23-year-old has earned praise from some respected names recently. When Leicester picked up all three points against Liverpool at the end of December, a complimentary Jurgen Klopp was spotted chatting to the former Blackpool loanee at full-time.
"We had a good chat," he recalls. "He was really nice and congratulated me. He was sound and very gracious. He wasn't upset in defeat and praised my game. Fair play to him.”
And last month, shortly after defender Craig Dawson scored in the final minutes to salvage a point for West Ham against the Foxes, in-form England international Declan Rice complemented Leicester’s number 22 in his post-match interview after the pair were locked in a midfield battle.
He said: “In the second half they were really on top of us but we’ve been working really hard on our set pieces. It’s a good point in the end… It’s hard to put it into words, in the first half we were so compact in the middle but Dewsbury-Hall really started to pick the ball up in the second half in that space he occupies in."
Rice isn’t the only person to appreciate Dewsbury-Hall’s efforts. Some have even suggested a call-up to Gareth Southgate’s upcoming England squad following his recent form but the man himself is not getting carried away just yet, although one of his biggest ambitions is to play for the national team.
"It's obviously early days and it's nice that people are recognising good performance. That's really positive," he says.
"It's just about solidifying myself into Leicester's team - playing week in and week out. I'm not gonna lie, England is 100% something I want to achieve. It is a big goal of mine. I do believe that one day, if you keep working hard and doing well, then the opportunity will arise. I need to keep focused and then everything else will take care of itself."
Southgate has not been in touch just yet, but Dewsbury-Hall hopes he is at least on his radar. With plenty of football still to play, the box-to-box midfielder believes if he continues to work hard in the coming days, weeks and months, then anything is possible. But he knows there is still work to do if he wants to achieve his goals.
"I have a lot of belief in myself," he says. "But I think there's a fine line between confidence and cockiness. I don't want to overflow into the cocky side of things. I just have confidence in myself. You look at all the top athletes - they are the people that believe in themselves the most. If you don't believe in yourself, you don't deserve to be at the top. It starts at you and then others follow.
“I know how hard I've worked and how good I can be - it's just keeping your foot on the pedal."
Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - InstagramTopics: Leicester City, Premier League, EFL Championship, Brendan Rodgers, Spotlight
