Patson Daka has admitted his maiden Leicester City campaign did not go as well as he had hoped.
The Zambian striker, a £23m signing from RB Salzburg last summer, netted 11 goals in his first season in blue to finish as the club’s third-highest scorer. However, he had a difficult conclusion to the campaign, scoring just once in his final 15 outings.
After scoring 60 goals over the previous two seasons with Salzburg, it seems Daka may have been expecting more of himself at the King Power Stadium. Nevertheless, he retains faith in his ability and hopes to can kick on now he has settled into a new country.
“It has been an okay season, not really the best like I expected, but it’s a season I can say I can build on,” Daka said. “It’s not easy to go into a foreign land and to adapt there and then. It takes a bit of time. I put pressure on myself.
“I have to continue working extra hard because I know what is expected of me and what I expect of myself. At the end of the day, I know I have everything that it takes for me to be what I want to be. It’s all in me. I just have to be true to myself and believe in myself.”
Daka is currently away on international duty with Zambia as they play the first two of their qualifying matches for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
They take on tournament finals hosts Ivory Coast on Friday and then Comoros next Tuesday.
As hosts, Ivory Coast have already qualified, so only the best of the other three teams in the group will make it to the finals, rather than the top two of four in all of the other pools.
Pleasingly for City, the tournament will be played next summer, so will not disrupt their season, especially as Wilfred Ndidi, Kelechi Iheanacho (both Nigeria), and Daniel Amartey (Ghana) could all be competing, as well as Ademola Lookman (Nigeria) if he returns permanently.
I told you that football is cursed under the new dark govt.
He scored more goals when he was new but later they have sussed him out. Top flight football is complicated. The opponents even study your heart rate!
That’s the problem with too much media exposia……….expectations are set too high.
Avoid the media and concentrate on working hard…….
You Pratt!!!
But imwe fibantu you are evil… Why do you want us to crucify young Patson? Seriously, what wrong did he do, the boy had a good season, better than Ronaldo.
I believe in Patson and he will score 2 goals on Friday, and 2 goals in Lusaka.
Other goals can be claimed by others….
Set the bar high work through the off season build more muscle work on your already explosive pace and work on holding the ball better…you cannot wait for that ball to chase…study tapes of forwards like Therry henri …what made him different ,,,,Denis Beckham….Didier Drogba to name but a few watch how they paced themselves how they calculated how to beat their markers…its not time to celebrate go to the drawing board and all the best
Who is crucifying Patson? We are all behind him. In fact he can take us to AFCON and we can even win it with the likes of Fashion, Mwepu and the hoard of sparkling young bbood we have. I hope Kamanga doesnt disturb our team.