Leicester City Host OH Leuven At Belvoir Drive
Vichai and Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, City’s owners since 2010, acquired OH Leuven in June 2017, forging a unique bond between the two clubs – a relationship which was strengthened last season as supporters of both sides were invited to take in the King Power experience on either side of the channel.
During a behind-closed-doors training fixture, with the objective of building essential pre-season fitness, Foxes manager Claude Puel handed run-outs to new signings Jonny Evans and James Maddison, while Academy graduates Hamza Choudhury, Josh Knight, Layton Ndukwu and Harvey Barnes also featured.
Elliott Moore, an authoritative young centre back on loan at OH Leuven, captained Nigel Pearson’s visitors ahead of his second successive season with the Proximus League outfit.
Meanwhile, OHL boss Pearson, who managed City over two successful spells, took advantage of the opportunity to reacquaint himself with friends and former colleagues at Belvoir Drive before departing for Belgium.
With valuable minutes now under their belts, many of Puel’s Foxes squad will continue their pre-season schedule in a friendly against Notts County at Meadow Lane on Saturday (3pm BST kick-off) ahead of fixtures with Akhisarspor and Udinese in Austria next week – live on LCFC TV.
Following City's return to the United Kingdom later this month, Valencia are set to visit King Power Stadium on Wednesday 1 August (7:45pm BST kick-off) before they travel to the Hauts-de-France region of France to tackle Lille the following Saturday (5:15pm BST kick-off).
Following Wednesday’s session with OHL, Matt Reeves, City’s Head of Fitness & Conditioning, said: “It’s a great opportunity for the players to get their first run-outs.
"We have to treat it as another step of progression as we go through pre-season. All of the lads can start to build on the hard work we have done in weeks one and two of pre-season.
“The lads have been working hard on and off the pitch, they’ve also had the chance to work on the technical side of things so it’s nice when it all pulls together.”