Why Ruud van Nistelrooy already knows Patson Daka inside out as Leicester City striker plan set
Patson Daka has untapped potential and new Leicester City manager Ruud van Nistelrooy is confident the striker can blossom under his guidance.
Daka scored a superb solo goal to round off Tuesday night’s victory over West Ham, the Zambian putting a torrid run of form and a long injury behind him by getting on the scoresheet for the first time in 10 months. For van Nistelrooy, that’s just the start.
The manager admitted Daka is the City player he has watched most, having scouted him while he was firing in the goals for RB Salzburg, and having tried to sign him from the King Power Stadium while PSV manager. After years of following his career, he now has Daka under his wing.
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The striker has shown flashes of goalscoring prowess at City but not yet performed consistently well enough for his £23m price-tag to feel like good business. However, even with Daka now 26 years old, van Nistelrooy feels there is potential there for him to draw out.
“He’s probably the player that I’ve seen the most of,” van Nistelrooy said. “Also at a younger age, when he was at Salzburg, I was following him already. I was very interested in him when I was PSV manager, to be honest.
“I think he’s got great potential. That’s what he showed in Austria, scoring a lot of goals, assisting a lot. It’s something that I saw in him. He’s only going to get better, I think, developing him on a daily basis. He’s got a lot of potential.”
Daka replaced Jamie Vardy on the hour mark on Tuesday night, which is the earliest the captain has been substituted off this season. In his 30 minutes, Daka ran hard to cause problems for the West Ham centre-backs, and then outfoxed Max Kilman to sprint clear and lash home as the clock hit 90.
Now in his fourth year at City, Daka’s best goalscoring campaign remains in his maiden season at the club, when he netted 11 times in all competitions. Last term, in the Championship, he scored seven.
