Leicester: A fresh star to watch and a new signing settling in brilliantly

There wasn’t much to take away from Leicester City’s game against Burton at the Pirelli Stadium, except for the performances of two very bright stars.

The Foxes had their first preseason away game against Burton Albion. The traveling side managed to keep out Burton’s best efforts resulting in a draw in ninety minutes. The circumstances demanded a winner to lay their claim over the Bass Charity Vase, and thus a penalty shoot-out followed.

The youngsters who landed the responsibility of taking the penalties weren’t City’s best choices. Thus it ended with a scoreline of 3-1 in Burton’s favor. It will be harsh to criticize the results or the performances, especially in the first game of the preseason. The silver lining from this lackluster affair is the revelation of two players – one is a fresh starlet, another is our new signing.

Leicester City’s two eye-catching prospects

Leicester City’s academy product Tawanda Maswanhise made his senior debut starting in the first half for Brendan Rodgers’ side. The Zimbabwean youngster took charge of the City’s attack alongside Zambian forward Patson Daka and Algerian right-winger Rachid Ghezzal.

Maswanhise was impressive taking control of the left flank. He interplayed his touches well with the attacking midfielder James Maddison near the opposition’s final third. He showed a fearless attitude and quick bursts of acceleration which made him a considerable threat to Burton’s defense.

It was his first time playing for the senior team. He couldn’t convert much in exchange for the opportunities that he got. The closest he came was when he was presented with a window of opportunity a bit far from Burton’s goal. Maswanhise looked to have the perfect opportunity to score a stunning goal from 30 yards before he put a lot of extra power behind his uncontrollable volleyed shot.

Another player who looked to be settling in his role as a CDM was the Foxes’ new signee Boubakary Soumaré. During the first few minutes, the former Lille man looked a bit out of touch to set into a new system, but soon after, he picked up the tune to form a sustainable defensive partnership with Hamza Choudhury.

Soumaré kept putting up engaging defensive battles throughout the first 45 minutes. He looked great in recovering the ball from the opposition and then quickly stitching up passes forward. The young Frenchman got more to showcase as a new signing as Burton enjoyed much more possession and all the attacking threats for most of the game.

It was the host’s fourth pre-season game, and thus they enjoyed an upper hand in mapping out the game better than their Premier League counterparts. Rodgers now needs to formulate a better approach going into their next fixture against Wycombe this week. We expect that the team will perform far better than their recent outing.