COULD DAKA BE THE ATTACKER?
NEW STRIKER FACES TOUGH COMPETITION FOR PLACE IN
PATSON Daka may be the new hotshot coming to town but he will have stiff competition for a Leicester City starting spot up against Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho, writes Jordan Blackwell.
Daka, right, is set to arrive at the King Power Stadium soon, with the 22-yearold confirming at the weekend his intentions to join City and fulfil his Premier League dream.
When he arrives he will find himself battling club icon Vardy and in-form Iheanacho, with the trio scoring 70 goals between them last season.
While manager Brendan Rodgers wanted more goals in his side, he will face a tough call on who to leave out if he starts with two up front, given Vardy’s status and Iheanacho’s form.
The Nigerian finished the campaign with 14 goals in 15 games to claim the club’s top scorer crown, despite only getting his chance because of injuries to team-mates James Maddison and Harvey Barnes. That duo have hailed Iheanacho’s impact.
Maddison said: “Since I’ve been at the club it’s predominantly been one striker, it’s been tough. It’s been Vards or Kele and normally Vards will play.
“With Barnesy and me getting injured, we went for two strikers instead and he grabbed it by the scruff of the neck and started banging them in.
“Vards took a bit of a back seat on goalscoring duties because Kele was banging them in.
“It’s great to have two guys up there like that that are feeding off each other and both capable of scoring lots of goals.”
Barnes said: “Everyone at the club is chuffed for him (Iheanacho). He’s such a great lad to have around the changing room and he was in the form of his life.
“He’s always been a great player and always had a good goals record, but in the last few months, he took it to another level.”
While Iheanacho was finding the net, Vardy turned creator, his own goal-scoring suffering. In fact, he only managed two open-play goals in 27 fixtures after Christmas.
However, he can’t be ruled out from returning with a hot streak. Barnes said: “He (Vardy) is definitely the best I’ve played with. You know his style of play. As soon as you get the ball you know he wants to get in behind, you know the pass you need to use him to the best of his abilities.
“His goalscoring has never been doubted, even when he’s had spells where he’s not scored, he’ll always come back and go on a run where he gets a load.
“He’s a pleasure to play with for me.”