‘It's a day that I will treasure’- Daka revels in Leicester City debut

Zambia international Patson Daka finally made his debut for Leicester City in Saturday’s pre-season friendly against Burton Albion at Pirelli Stadium.

The 22-year-old, who signed for the Foxes from Red Bull Salzburg, completed the first 45 minutes as Leicester kicked off their 2021-22 pre-season with a 3-1 penalty shootout defeat.

After the match, Daka said he was pleased to have had the opportunity to play in front of the Blue Army during his first appearance and he will always treasure the day he pulled on the shirt for the first time.

“It felt really great and I think it was really important to get some minutes and it was really, really amazing to be out here especially with fans, it was really important to get this feeling,” Daka told LCFC TV.

“Well, it was an unbelievable feeling, and it is an emotional day for me, wearing this jersey, it was really special and I was looking forward to it and today is the day that I will treasure because not just looking at the result, but also getting the experience and getting to understand each other with my teammates.

"It was really important to see how we can work together going forward and just to see what we have to really work on."

On the game, Daka said: “It was a physical game, and we tried to cope up with the physicality, we did our very best that we could and as I said, it is the first game of pre-season, so we still have a lot of time to work out on the areas that we have to work on and I am sure that in the next game we will do even much better.”

Daka also shed some light on how his pre-season has gone since arriving in England.

“So far it has been great and as I said I am still trying to work together with my teammates, to understand each other more and to get that connection between ourselves," he added.

"The training that we have had in a couple of weeks, it has been really great and it is helping to get back into full fitness which I think is really important for all of us looking that we are from the break and we are trying to get back to full fitness, it has been really food for us.”

Brendan Rodgers' side will next take on Wycombe Wanderers on Wednesday, tackle Queens Park Rangers four days later before Villarreal visit King Power Stadium on Wednesday, August 4.

“Every match for me is really important because it is a different challenge every day and you learn different things in each and every game," he continued.

"So I look forward to every game that we play and I think it is also important for each of the players to get that full match fitness, to get more minutes to play and I think it is a great way forward for the team because we are getting the minutes in and we are also trying to work on our weak areas before the season kicks off.”

The Foxes will then face Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley Stadium on August 7 before they start the league season with a home game against Wolverhampton Wanderers on August 14.