Evans’ Évian Target

- Jonny Evans says Leicester City will push themselves in order to develop their fitness
- The Northern Ireland defender took part in his maiden training session of pre-season on Monday
- Evans outlined the quality of new City signings James Justin and Ayoze Pérez after training with them for the first time

Reporting back for the first time following an extended break due to international commitments which saw him help Northern Ireland to wins over Estonia and Belarus in June, Evans took part in his first two sessions on Monday.

The 31-year-old centre-back linked up with his Foxes team-mates for the first time since mid-May and was pleased with his immediate involvement in training after travelling over from the East Midlands on Sunday.

“I think pre-seasons of the past, there’s a lot more physical running, whereas today, we’ve come straight back in in our first day and we’ve had a little game at the end of training, straight into possession football,” said Evans.

“That’s the stuff that we like doing, we get our fitness from that. I’m sure we’ll still suffer in different ways and it’s all about building that up and pushing ourselves more than what you do throughout the season to get ready.

“I got a little bit of a break with the family [over the summer], which is nice, and then I had the international games and a little bit of a break after.

“It’s all about trying to maximise that [time] as much as possible. That’s our time off, so it’s good to spend time with the kids and get them away on holiday. It was really enjoyable.”

At the end of Monday’s morning session, Evans operated alongside summer arrival James Justin during a short match, and noted the young defender’s talents, as well as those of new striker Ayoze Pérez.

He said: “Obviously, the first session in, in the game that we had, I had JJ right-back beside me, so that was good to see his qualities, and he’s certainly got a lot of quality already.

“He’s going to be a great player for Leicester in the future and obviously Ayoze, we’ve seen him for a number of years now in the Premier League and he’s a great addition to our squad.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in a Leicester shirt, too.”

For Evans, the aim for City this week will be to not only to be productive on the training pitch, but also to enjoy their time together in the picturesque French Alps.

Evans added: “I think the reason why teams come away is you’ve got no distractions going on, no travelling for the lads. You’re here and you’ve got all of the facilities on site.

“New players can bed in with the existing players already here. [We want] to try and enjoy ourselves and get as much training in as we can do before we head home.”