Four-midable Daka making mark in hero Vardy’s mould

PaTsoN daKa has played just seven games for Leicester but has already won the admiration of perhaps the two finest forwards in the club’s history. He and Jamie vardy have struck up a close relationship, with daka modelling his game on vardy’s long before he arrived at Leicester, and the 34-year-old is passing on tips about the Premier League now daka is here.

and after the Zambia striker announced himself to english football supporters by scoring all of Leicester’s goals in their 4-3 europa League win at spartak Moscow, Gary Lineker joined the fan club. ‘What a performance,’ tweeted Lineker, who scored 95 goals in seven seasons for the Foxes. Watch daka’s goals and vardy springs to mind. The 23-year-old looks to run in behind defences and is always on the move. ‘Jamie vardy is one of my inspirations,’ said daka (right). ‘you can see that from my playing style. it’s quite similar to his, it’s a big privilege to be working with him. He helps me in training. i keep learning.’ despite his special night, he may find himself back on the bench at Brentford on sunday with vardy likely to be restored to the starting Xi after he was rested in Moscow. yet rather than hastening the end of vardy’s Leicester career, daka is just as likely to prolong it. Because if he can transfer his european form to the domestic stage, Brendan Rodgers can use vardy — 35 in January — more sparingly. even for vardy, starting 90-95 per cent of matches in his mid-30s would be a challenge, but 70-75 per cent would be more manageable. daka joined Leicester for an initial £20million from Red Bull salzburg. as sadio Mane, erling Haaland and current striker Karim adeyemi show, salzburg have an eye for a forward. daka exploded in the last two seasons, scoring 51 league goals. ‘When i see what has become of Patson, who came to salzburg four years ago as a shy young lad, it is extremely impressive,’ sporting director Christoph Freund told Sportsmail. ‘Patson has always worked hard and improved every year. He will make it as he has a great mentality.’ daka is already a popular figure at Leicester’s seagrave training base, where he takes part in post-training competitions with Kelechi iheanacho and James Maddison. a recent one involved left-foot finishes. Given three of daka’s goals on Wednesday were with his left, he can conclude that practice makes perfect.