Matty feared being lost among stars

Fear of becoming the Forgotten Man was one of the reasons which prompted striker Matty Fryatt to join Leicester City instead of waiting for a Premieship opportunity.

Although still only 19, Fryatt was leading scorer at Division One Walsall for a season and a half before Leicester’s approach.

And, not surprising for a man with 30 goals in 78 games they weren’t the only ones impressed.

Fryatt was being closely watched by a Premiership side but Fryatt told BBC Sport: ‘They said they were keen on me but didn’t think I was ready to play regularly.

‘I thought there was a danger of my reputation going down if I wasn’t playing regularly.’

‘You just become one of the many and I might have ended up going on loan. I wanted to be part of the first team and continue my progression.’

People like his Leicester team-mate Ryan Smith who he knows from England youth team duties have enjoyed playing regularly away from the big club spotlight where their chances of recognition are limited.

And so it is with Fryatt who has already collected three goals in his five appearances and considerably eased Leicester’s relegation pressures.

And does he have any doubts about his move?

Not a bit of it. ‘I don’t think we’ll go down,’ he said, and anyway ‘there are better players and the coaching is of a higher standard,’ he said.

Certainly City are delighted about his choice firstly because his arrival seems to have coincided with a change of fortunes and also because they now have a natural striker whose goals take some pressure off the defence.

Indeed his arrival immediately coincided with the end of a three game City goal drought.

Although he was cuptied for the Spurs cuptie City have scored nine times in the seven games since he appeared on the scene in January and have won three of those seven matches.

Not earth shattering but better than at other times this dismal season and enough to lift them out of the doldrums of the relegation places which cost Craig Levein, the man who signed him, his job.

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