On the evening of Monday 2nd May, I watched with joy as my former club, Leicester City, were confirmed as Premier League champions. It was the perfect way to end what had already been an inspiring day.

Earlier in the day, I visited the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy, located 50km west of the Hungarian capital Budapest in a village called Felcsút. The Academy is somewhere I’d wanted to visit for a while, with a view to enhancing my knowledge of that game. Prior to arriving, I was also looking forward to the opportunity of exchanging various ideas and philosophies with the Academy’s coaches, specifically when it comes to working with young footballers.

My childhood friend Rudi Lukacek, who was instrumental in arranging my visit, opened the doors of the Academy to me and allowed me the chance to spend two days at the establishment named in honour of Hungary’s greatest-ever player. What an incredible insight! Whilst there, I studied and learned so much about Hungarian youth football, and through watching training, I was provided with many ideas that I could utilise for the future.

I can’t thank Rudi enough for arranging my visit.

Whilst at the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy, I met with the Academy’s Technical Director, Péter Horvath. Immediately, we agreed on a key point – the importance of thinking ‘bottom-up’ instead of ‘top-down’ when it comes to working with players at youth level. There needs to be a sensitive approach to players when they are still children or teenagers. Yes, we demand a lot from our future players, but a ‘top-down’ approach doesn’t always work.

During my time in Felcsút, I was also provided with the opportunity to meet the Academy’s first-team head coach Szijjártó István, Under-17 coaches Ivica Kulešević and Dino Skender, and Under-19 goalkeeper coach Mitring István, who were all wonderful in giving up their time to talk to me about their work.

Overall, I was hugely impressed with the strategy in place at what is a fine football club. It is a strategy that has been adhered to in recent years and it has enabled the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy to become one of the leading clubs in Hungary.

I enjoyed meeting everybody there, and I remain fascinated by the discerning approach that is being pursued by the Academy’s respected coaches in nurturing young talent, who will become high quality players and could go on to play for larger clubs in Hungary or abroad.

The level of access I was given to training provided incredible insight, with every coach providing a contribution to that insight. The understanding I have been given of Hungarian youth football, and the impact it has within the nation and in Europe, is superb.

I’d like to thank Péter for the time he gave me, alongside fellow coach Balázs Tóth (who played under my former Leicester manager Paulo Sousa whilst he was at FC Videoton), in addition to Rudi and Fabian Erny from JustFootball.tv, who provided excellent guidance and support in preparing the two days I spent at the Ferenc Puskás Football Academy.