Ranieri delighted at Ndidi’s start at Leicester City

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri is impressed with the impact of new midfielder Wilfred Ndidi following the Nigerian international’s Premier League debut.

Ndidi was signed by the Foxes earlier this month from Genk for a reported £15m, inking a five-and-a-half-year deal at the King Power Stadium.

After making his Leicester debut against Everton in the FA Cup, the 20-year-old started in midfield against Chelsea on Saturday evening before switching to centre-back.

And despite the Foxes falling to a heavy 3-0 defeat to the Premier League leaders, Ranieri was pleased to see Ndidi settle in so quickly.

“He’s an athlete, he played well and his debut here was good at King Power Stadium. I’m very pleased with his performance, but I’m pleased with all of the players,” he said.

(Photo credit ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)

“At the beginning, he was chosen as a central midfielder and after we changed his position. For this reason, I changed and put him in the middle [of the defence] after.

“When you don’t have luck it’s difficult to make something against big teams, but we are in good condition now, so we can make a very good performance next time.”

Leicester City take on Southampton, who face Norwich in an FA Cup replay on Wednesday, at the weekend at St Mary’s Stadium.