Former Chester defender Sam Hughes capped a memorable first season at Leicester City with a place on the substitutes bench for their Premier League clash against West Ham United.

The 21-year-old joined the Foxes last summer after an impressive 18 months in the Blues’ first-team for a fee in the region on £130,000 plus add-ons, which include appearance bonuses for Chester and a sell-on clause.

He sealed his dream move to the former Premier League champions after netting eight times in 64 appearances for Chester and has since made a splash in Leicester’s Under 23s side in Premier League Two Division One, handed the captain’s armband by coach Steve Beaglehole and scoring 12 goals from centre-half to finish the season as top scorer, in a successful season which has seen them bag second spot in the table.

That form has clearly caught the attentions of Leicester manager Claude Puel, who named Hughes as one of seven subs in the 2-0 defeat against the Hammers, with the West Kirby youngster edging a step closer to realising his dream of playing in English football’s top tier.

It remains to be seen whether Hughes gets any game time in Leicester’s final two fixtures of the season, a home clash with Arsenal on Wednesday followed by a trip to play Spurs at Wembley next Sunday.

The Foxes' development have also formed a mean defence, conceding just 20 times this season, the division's lowest total, and Hughes praised his team-mates for their efforts.

“A lot of credit for that will go to the back four and that’s how people looking in with see it but it’s collectively as a team,” he told Leicester City TV.

“Starting from the likes of Flash (Josh Gordon) up front, who doesn’t stop working throughout the whole game, and that allows us to squeeze up the pitch as high as we can.

“They all make our job a lot easier, so collectively, as a team, it’s not just down to us as a back four, it’s as a team that we’ve managed to do it.

“In the last two seasons, the lads have been down the bottom, fighting relegation to the last couple of games of the season, so it’s been nice having the pressure of trying to win a title.

"I know you get nothing for finishing second or third, but as a team we wanted to finish as high as possible.”