Since the start of the season, Zambia’s Patson Daka has made just two cameo appearances from the bench for Leicester City.
The 25-year-old striker played 26 minutes in the Carabao Cup against Liverpool and just a minute in the Championship against Sunderland.
Despite his excellent form with Zambia during the November international break, where he scored three goals in two matches, including a brace in a 4-2 win over Congo Brazzaville and a consolation goal in a 2-1 loss to Niger in World Cup qualifiers, Daka was not named to Leicester City’s matchday squad in their last two games.
Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca stated ahead of tomorrow’s Championship match against Plymouth that Daka and Harry Souttar are not playing due to stiff competition in their respective positions.
“The reason why they don’t get minutes is easy. First of all, both of them at the beginning of the season, the idea was that they could leave. Then they stayed. It doesn’t matter; we are here and we are going to use them. In general, there is not any issues or any problems with them. They are fantastic. They work good every day,” he said.
“The reason why they’re not playing is very simple. It’s not because I have any problems with them. It’s because there are players who are doing very well. In this case, the only thing you can say is to keep working and waiting for the chance.
“The problem with Pat is that we have Kele (Iheanacho) and Jamie (Vardy), and now Tom (Cannon) is back. Kele and Jamie are doing very well. It doesn’t mean that if Pat plays, he’s going to do bad….. But there are already two players who are doing well,” stated the Italian trainer.
With Enzo saying last month that some of his players should consider leaving, the Chipolopolo striker will look to join another club in January in search of game time.
He was close to joining AFC Bournemouth in the last transfer window but the deal fell through on deadline day.
Another team that was reportedly interested in Daka was AC Milan.