Leicester City’s Tom Cannon has revealed that he aspires to emulate Jamie Vardy on the pitch and has used his injury-hit spell to learn from him.
Leicester will be without Jamie Vardy for their home fixture against Millwall on Wednesday night as he’s sidelined with a knee injury, although the Foxes did fine without him on Saturday.
For the first time this season, Enzo Maresca’s side scored four goals in a match as they thrashed Plymouth Argyle at the King Power Stadium.
In the absence of their top scorer – who has scored seven times this season – Patson Daka stepped up, announcing his return to the team with a well-taken goal.
Daka will now want to make that position his own but will have Tom Cannon breathing down his neck.
The 20-year-old is yet to make a start for Leicester since arriving from Everton for £7.5 million in the summer and he finally got on the pitch to represent City on Saturday, a few weeks after recovering from the back problem discovered during his medical.
Tom Cannon wants to emulate Jamie Vardy
When going through a tough period with injury, there aren’t many better strikers to learn from than Vardy.
The youngster grew up being compared to the striker, and he’s relished the opportunity to train with the ex-England international.
Speaking to BBC Radio Leicester, he said:
“I’m here always watching, learning and seeing how he trains,
“Coaches in the past, and the papers and whatnot have said we have similar playing styles.
“I see what he does now and see what I can bring into my game and take it from there.
“From watching clips when he was smashing in the goals six or seven years ago, and he has obviously continued to do that, but when it was at his peak he was the perfect player for me to watch and learn off.”
If Cannon can mould some of Vardy’s attributes into his game, including his ferocious pressing and clinical finishing, Leicester will have a terrific striker on their hands, as he demonstrated during a loan spell at Preston North End last season.
What’s next for Tom Cannon?
Praised as “outstanding” by Hull manager Liam Rosenior for his performance against the Tigers last term, Cannon has already proven he can score goals at this level.
He netted eight in 20 appearances for Preston in 2022/23 and clearly caught the eye for Leicester to shell out a sizeable fee.
In terms of his next steps, Cannon has to be patient.
After making his first appearance for the club last time out, it would be easy to get carried away.
However, during the festive period, Maresca will have to rotate his team and that’s when he can truly show the Foxes faithful what a talented striker they have on their hands.