Abdul Fatawu is 'at home' at Leicester City before transfer decision

Abdul Fatawu is enjoying life at Leicester City

Abdul Fatawu says more clubs were in for his services in the summer – but now he’s signed up at Leicester City, he feels as though he is ‘home’. Young winger Fatawu joined on a season-long loan from Sporting Lisbon before the beginning of the season and he has caught the eye out wide under the watchful eye of Enzo Maresca.

City will have a decision to make come the end of the season when it comes to Fatawu’s future; reports coming out of Portugal recently suggested that the Foxes would be obliged to sign the Ghanaian on a permanent basis provided the club secures an immediate return to the Premier League, although Maresca recently reiterated that Leicester will decide at the end of the season as he challenged Fatawu to respond accordingly to his AFCON omission.

It’s been a learning curve of a few weeks for Fatawu, who arrived in England with minimal senior football experience; he was sent off in the defeat at Coventry City last month and then had to sit out the draw with Ipswich and the victory over Swansea, as well as the FA Cup fourth round triumph over Birmingham City. Fatawu made an instant impression at Stoke City on his return, however, when he teed up Patson Daka for the opener in the 5-0 rout.

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Along with another summer arrival in Stephy Mavididi, Fatawu has enhanced Maresca’s attacking options and he’ll spend the remainder of this season seeking to ensure that he remains at the club he chose to join beyond this coming summer.

“There was more teams in for me, but I felt this place was good for me,” Fatawu told LCFC. “I always want someone who can help me and tell me what to do. I still want to learn. All the teams were good, but how the coach speaks to you here is different. I took how he wanted to guide and help me improve in my game and that’s why I chose Leicester.

“I think Leicester can help me to grow, to improve and get mature. There are so many good coaches in my career. Most of them always helped me in whatever I did. I can’t count them. Enzo is one of them. He’s someone who will talk to you away from the games as well as in the games. He always wants you to do the right things, even out of football. “He wants you to be a good boy as well as a good footballer.”

Fatawu had previously only enjoyed limited exposure to the first-team sphere during the last year or so at Sporting; he was handed minutes against Tottenham in the Champions League last term and also against Arsenal in the Europa League. Fatawu also has 15 international caps to his name, despite being left out of Ghana’s squad this winter, but he is enjoying the experience of playing regular football in full stadiums on a weekly basis.

“It’s amazing. I feel so good, especially when I’m in playing, getting support from the fans,” he continued. “It always gives me more energy to play. It feels amazing. I feel at home already because everyone is ready to help. There are people who tell you so many things about the game.

“How you can learn and how people help you, even when you’re not playing, or what they tell you about normal life, there are so many good people in the club. They have helped me to settle in England. I feel at home because I have no problem with these kinds of things. I think this club made it easy for me. When I came here, I thought it might be difficult, but with the people I have here, it’s so good for me. Living here is good. It’s going so well.”

How do you rate Fatawu’s season in a Leicester shirt so far?