Leicester City's pre-season is now underway.
On Saturday, the Foxes managed to overcome League Two opposition in Northampton Town, in a behind closed doors affair, 3-0, with several academy products impressing versus the Cobblers.
On Tuesday night, Russell Martin's men then got the better of another fourth tier team in Bristol Rovers 2-1, with the runout extended to 120 minutes to get more freshness into his camp, and for the Scotsman to utilise his entire squad.
Various fringe players impressed against the Gas, including Nathan Opoku, who bagged Leicester's crucial second of the afternoon, to keep their pre-season winning streak intact.
Opoku's standout performance
Martin will have liked what he saw from the forgotten attacker when he featured against Steve Evans' hosts at the Memorial Stadium.
The Ghanaian forward is yet to make his debut in the Foxes first-team competitively, away from pre-season clashes, with two loan spells to Belgium and to Newport County greeting him since his arrival to England in 2023.
Therefore, with a fresh manager at the helm, he would've been champing at the bit to stand out against the fourth tier side, so he can finally make a name for himself at Leicester.
He managed to stand out during the latter stages of the long, drawn-out friendly, as he made sure of another pre-season victory when he was alert to Sammy Braybrooke's effort being parried away, leading to the number 42 for the day confidently tapping home the rebound with ease for 2-1.
Noted as not "looking out of place" by Leicestershire Live journalist Nathan Holland when the 120-minute exercise was over, it could be Opoku's time, finally, to make strides into the Leicester first team.
At the moment in time, the Leicester attack isn't overflowing with options, with Opoku a potential back-up face to rely on up top, next to the expected arrival of Danny Ings.
He will want to impress in League One
He shouldn't be fazed by the demands of League One football either, as Opoku is just fresh off a formative loan experience with Newport in League Two.
For the Exiles, who were managed by ex-Foxes great Christian Fuchs last season, the 24-year-old would hammer home six goals and pick up three assists from 30 appearances.
He has shown he has an eye for goal under the new Martin reign already, as well, when instinctively beating the Gas goalkeeper, and he won't want the goals to stop flowing anytime soon.
Ideally for Opoku, he will be in and around the first team picture at Leicester in the third tier, as Martin and Co. gun for promotion.
At Newport, he proved he can perform under serious pressures and strain, as the Welsh club battled against the drop throughout his entire loan stint.
Back at the King Power, it would be a different type of pressure on his shoulders, as Leicester are expected to clinch promotion, but he will be desperate to impress and show he belongs, no matter what the hurdle is.
Often, goalscorers in pre-season are swiftly forgotten about when the main bread and butter of competitive action hits the calendar.
In Opoku's case, he won't want to fall into this unused category, and if he can keep the pre-season goals coming, Martin will surely consider him for the League One opener against Notts County next month.
After all, he picked up an assist last campaign against the Magpies for Newport, with Opoku ready to become a surprise hero for the Foxes in the division above.
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