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Claude Puel will keep a close eye on loaned-out defenders Josh Knight and Darnell Johnson to see if they can compete for places in Leicester City’s first team next season.

The development squad pair made deadline-day moves as they look to gain senior experience, Knight joining League One outfit Peterborough United and Johnson heading north to Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership.

Both were unused substitutes at the weekend but Johnson made his debut in a defeat to Celtic on Wednesday night.

For Puel, a regular spectator at under-23 matches, a loan away is no more than the duo deserve and contributes towards the club's "good project".

Knight and Johnson are two of City’s brightest prospects and have been influential in the side’s excellent defensive record over the past season-and-a-half, and Puel believes it is right that they are given opportunity to progress.

“It’s always the vision about the future, to develop Johnson and Knight,” said Puel. “They’ve played well for the under-23s. They managed in a good way their games.

“Now it’s important to see them in another level because we will see next season if all the squad can evolve. I don’t know for the moment. But I think it’s important to always improve our young players step by step and we will see when they can be available for the first team.

“It’s a good option for Knight, for Johnson, to show their quality, to continue to improve until the end of the season.

(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)

“At the end of the season, we will see what happens, if they continue on loan or if they come back because they will have the level to compete in the first team. We will see.

“It’s a good project for the club.”

City Under-23s’ first match without Knight and Johnson was an ignominious 7-1 defeat to Blackburn in Premier League 2.

They had only conceded six goals in their previous 10 matches in all competitions.