Jannik expects more of himself this season
CENTRE-BACK Jannik Vestergaard is “fully dedicated” to Leicester City and expects to stay at the club, despite the possibility of limited game-time.
Vestergaard was one of three available players, along with Hamza Choudhury and Boubakary Soumare, who did not even make the bench for City’s opening Premier League game of the season on Sunday.
After he dropped down the pecking order, City would be open to selling the Dane, and he has been linked with promoted side Fulham.
He signed in a £15 million move from Southampton last summer and played 20 matches in all competitions for City.
But Vestergaard has not made a Premier League appearance since February, with manager Brendan Rodgers preferring to turn to midfielder Wilfred Ndidi in a defensive injury crisis.
Despite those limited opportunities, the 30-year-old centre-back told Danish newspaper BT: “I am fully dedicated to Leicester, which is a great club with passionate fans.
“I don’t know anything about those rumours and honestly don’t follow all the chatter in the transfer windows.
“I don’t spend my energy on that sort of thing, but have all my focus on being the best possible version of myself. If there are enquiries, my agent will take care of it, but I expect to stay in Leicester.
“I believe in a better season this year and that I will stay here and play my part in a successful project in Leicester. In the pre-season matches, we all got the same amount of playing time, and I am in super good shape and completely ready for the season.
“I feel that I am in my prime as a footballer and I am looking forward to the coming years. I am at the top physically and with a lot of experience from over 350 matches, which makes me better in specific match situations and which is useful for tackling life as a footballer.”
Vestergaard feels he is able to show his best qualities this season, something he was not able to do last year after picking up an injury when he arrived at City, and having had very little rest following the European Championships. This year, it’s different.
He said: “It has gone well in the pre-season for me, and it is great that, unlike last year, after the European Championships, I have had a full and good preparation for the season.
“It gives me optimism and good reason to believe that I will have a better season than the last one, when, like so many others who went far in that tournament, I was probably a bit worn out and changed to a new club with virtually no summer holidays. After that, I suffered a lot with both injuries and illness. It created a lack of continuity for me and the season was never what I had hoped for and expected.
“Now I have to get back to the level and the continuity that I had in Southampton and for the national team.”