It was the question posed by a section of football enthusiasts in the East African nation after the youngster made the headlines in Europe, not for bad but for good reasons - being honoured by Leicester City for a splendid season with the U21 team in the Premier League 2.
Silko Thomas takes home top Leicester City award
Born to Kenyan parents in England, the versatile winger, who can play on either flank but predominantly on the right or as an attacking midfielder, scooped the Men’s Development Player of the Season award during the end-of-season ceremony at King Power Stadium.
The winners of the awards were decided by the coaching staff, and the Kenyan prospect, who featured 16 times for the Leicester City Development Squad this season, was among the beneficiaries while Logan Briggs took home the Men’s Academy Player of the Season accolade.
The blue-carpet event was an opportunity to celebrate a landmark year for Leicester's men’s and women’s teams - including gaining automatic promotion to the Premier League, winning the EFL Championship title, and a record WSL points tally.
Speaking after being honoured, Thomas attributed his success to hard work, saying it had paid off.
“I feel really good to win this award,” Thomas said as quoted by Leicester’s official website. “A lot of people could’ve been nominated for this, and I think they would deserve it, but I really appreciate getting this award. I appreciate everyone, the staff and the players, for voting for me.
“It means a lot because the hard work has paid off. I’ve been working hard all season and I think I do deserve it in a way, and like I said before, a lot of players deserve it but I’ve been working hard and I’m really happy. Now, looking at this award, it’s one step closer to where I want to be and I just want to keep pushing on to do better.”
Who is Silko Amari Otieno Thomas?
Born in June 25th, 2004 in London, Thomas was snapped up by the Chelsea ccademy on October 23rd, 2020, from Carshalton Athletic, and during his first interview, he candidly remembered how he started his footballing journey.
“After just training in the park for a few years, I ended up joining Carshalton Athletic and stayed there for two seasons. I was spotted by a Chelsea scout and asked if I wanted to attend a summer camp and got signed to the academy in my U10 season,” Thomas told the Chelsea website then after putting pen to paper.
Asked who his idols were while growing up, he said: “In football I have a couple. Ronaldinho is one because of his confidence - there’s nothing better than being on the pitch and having confidence to do certain things in front of a crowd that gets them off their seat. And Cristiano Ronaldo because of his mentality, he always aims to be the best and it shows in his football.”
However, on June 17th, 2023, Thomas’s love affair with Chelsea came to an end as he was among 13 players released by the Premier League outfit’s academy after running down his contract ahead of the 2023-24 campaign.
“We say goodbye to the following players from the Chelsea Academy at the end of their contracts: Derrick Abu, Prince Adegoke, Nathan Baxter, Juan Castillo, Bryan Fiabema, Joe Haigh, Henry Lawrence, Sam McClelland, Tudor Mendel-Idowu, Malik Mothersille, Silko Thomas, Ethan Wady and Jayden Wareham,” confirmed a statement on Chelsea website.
Before being released by Chelsea, Thomas had undergone trials with Sheffield United but could not sign on a permanent deal. At Chelsea, he featured for the U21 side, where he made a total of six appearances in the Premier League 2 and then featured four times for the U18 side in the UEFA Youth League. His busiest season at Chelsea came in 2020-21 campaign when he played 19 times for the U18, accumulating a total of 1411 minutes.
He moved to the U23 the following season and managed two appearances accumulating 95 minutes, and scored one goal. Thomas returned to the U18 the same season, registering 12 appearances, adding up to 631 minutes and scored two goals.
Having been released by Chelsea, Thomas got an invitation for trials at Leicester where he impressed, scoring two goals for the U21s in the summer and was handed a contract.
In April 7, 2024, the rising star was nominated alongside eight other young players for the Premier League 2 Player of the Month award for March. According to a statement on the Premier League website, the nominees were selected by the Premier League Football Development Panel and the panel was to decide the winner.
For Leicester's U21s this season, Thomas featured 16 times, accumulating 1304 minutes and scored five goals. He opened his goal account in the 3-2 defeat against Norwich City, scored in the 3-1 away win against Fulham, notched a brace in the 2-0 home win against Leeds United and grabbed a goal in the 4-3 away defeat to Everton.
Is Silko Thomas eligible to play for Harambee Stars?
Despite playing for England U15 in 2020, U17, and most recently U18 in 2021, Thomas can still play for Kenya at the international level since he has only played for England at the junior level.
According to Thomas, his memorable moment in his career was when he travelled with the England U18 side to Italy. He told Chelsea website: “Fortunately I’ve had lots of good footballing memories so far but last year I travelled abroad with England to Italy and I was so excited. It’s a dream to play for your country and it was a very proud moment for me and my family.”
Weighing in on the matter, former Football Kenya Federation (FKF) CEO Omondi Aduda opined the decision of whether Thomas will ever play for Kenya or not in the future lies squarely with the current FKF regime, who should start monitoring the progress of the youngster and keep contact before it is too late.
“It is important for FKF to always keep track and remain in close contact with players such as Thomas because his (Thomas’s) heart may want him to play for Kenya but with little or no interest from the country, he will easily chose the option of representing the country of birth and in this case England at the international level,” Aduda told Flashscore News.
“If FKF wants Thomas for Kenya, the head coach should be advised to hand him a call for national team duties. By doing so Thomas will definitely honour the call and that will mark his journey to play for the country, but if the player is ignored, he will continue playing for England at the junior level and it will become difficult at the end to convince him if he ever gets a chance to play for the senior team.”
Aduda further gave the example of Ghana’s Black Stars, who tried in vain to convince Athletic Club midfielder Nico Williams to play for them, having already represented Spain at the top level.
"We have seen such things happen, not once but many times, Ghana tried to get Nico (Williams) to play for them but the player had already picked Spain,” said Aduda.
“Even his own brother Inaki Williams (who switched allegiance for the Black Stars) could not convince him because he had already made up his mind and the reason could be the Ghana FA did not do enough or show their interest (from the time the player hit the headlines in Spain) to get his services."
What next for youngster Silko Thomas?
Having impressed for Leicester U21s, the teenage sensation earned a call-up to the First Team squad for the Emirates FA Cup clash against Birmingham City on January 27th 2024.
During the fifth round fixture at King Power Stadium, Thomas watched from the bench as the Enzo Maresca-led side battered the visiting team 3-0 courtesy of goals from Jimmy Vardy, Yunus Akgun and Dennis Praet. Maresca made three substitutions, withdrawing defender Callum Doyle, midfielder Brandon Cover, and goalscorer Akgun for James Justin, Ricardo Pereira and Arjan Raikhy respectively, keeping Thomas waiting for his senior debut.
However, Thomas is now eyeing a place in the senior Leicester squad for the new campaign.
“It’s been a really good year of development for myself. I’m buzzing about my own performances this season, and being in the U18s, I’ve been pushing on to the U21s and the bench for the First Team, so it’s been an unreal year,” said Thomas.
Thomas boasts an impressive youth career, including a Premier League Runner-up medal in 2020-21 season, FA Youth Cup Runner-up in 2019-20, and a U18 Premier League Cup Winner in 2021-22.
