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published: Wednesday | August 8, 2007
Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
Sappleton
Teenage striker and Jamaica hopeful, Reneil 'Ricky' Sappleton, is hoping to make the first team squad for his new club Leicester City when the English club football season kicks of this weekend.
Followinghis severance of ties with Queens Park Rangers, the club which took him on as a young schoolboy, Sappleton had a stint with Liverpool towards the end of the season before signing for Leicester in the off-season.
"What I have done so far I believe is good preparation for the season and my plan right now is to be in the team for the first game or at least on the bench and take it from there and I am doing my best to achieve that," said the powerfully-built six-footer who has so far featured in three pre-season matches.
"I have played about three pre-season games already. In one of those games I played for the reserves and scored twice against Aston Villa reserves. Those have been my only two goals so far.
"I have not scored for the big boys yet but I have got assists," he explained.
Career advancement
The move from Liverpool to Leicester Sappleton said was for the advancement of his career.
"At Liverpool they were always buying new players and with that I did not see myself getting into the first team for a while. I thought it was best for me to play at a Championship team and work my way up to the Premiership," he reasoned.
So far, he believes he could not have made a better choice.
"It is quite nice. It is a good place for a player to be at a young age if he wants to be in the first team. The manager (Martin Allen) is good with young people and you are selected based on your performance and ability.
"I am pretty happy right here. The environment is friendly and everyone gets along," said the player who will have to compete with the likes of Canadian Iain Hume, Carl Cort, DJ Campbell and Dutchman Mark De Vries for a position on the front line.
The competition, Sappleton said, is no problem. He believes that he is good enough and just "needs to work hard and prove myself".
In order to get himself in the best shape, the player who turns 18 in December, said he has been doing extra work to be sharp enough.
"I feel very fit right now but I am not 100 per cent. I have been staying back and working with the fitness trainer to get myself sharper. I even decided not to come to Jamaica in the holidays - my family came down - because I wanted to do more work to get myself prepared for this upcoming season," he said.
Breaking into the Leicester team is not the only goal of the player who left Jamaica close to 10 years ago. Donning the black, gold and green is still high on his agenda.
"I would still love to play for Jamaica. I am at a new team now so I am trying to settle down but as long as I am needed I will be there, and this is at any level that I am called for."
Nodley Wright, Freelance Writer
Sappleton
Teenage striker and Jamaica hopeful, Reneil 'Ricky' Sappleton, is hoping to make the first team squad for his new club Leicester City when the English club football season kicks of this weekend.
Followinghis severance of ties with Queens Park Rangers, the club which took him on as a young schoolboy, Sappleton had a stint with Liverpool towards the end of the season before signing for Leicester in the off-season.
"What I have done so far I believe is good preparation for the season and my plan right now is to be in the team for the first game or at least on the bench and take it from there and I am doing my best to achieve that," said the powerfully-built six-footer who has so far featured in three pre-season matches.
"I have played about three pre-season games already. In one of those games I played for the reserves and scored twice against Aston Villa reserves. Those have been my only two goals so far.
"I have not scored for the big boys yet but I have got assists," he explained.
Career advancement
The move from Liverpool to Leicester Sappleton said was for the advancement of his career.
"At Liverpool they were always buying new players and with that I did not see myself getting into the first team for a while. I thought it was best for me to play at a Championship team and work my way up to the Premiership," he reasoned.
So far, he believes he could not have made a better choice.
"It is quite nice. It is a good place for a player to be at a young age if he wants to be in the first team. The manager (Martin Allen) is good with young people and you are selected based on your performance and ability.
"I am pretty happy right here. The environment is friendly and everyone gets along," said the player who will have to compete with the likes of Canadian Iain Hume, Carl Cort, DJ Campbell and Dutchman Mark De Vries for a position on the front line.
The competition, Sappleton said, is no problem. He believes that he is good enough and just "needs to work hard and prove myself".
In order to get himself in the best shape, the player who turns 18 in December, said he has been doing extra work to be sharp enough.
"I feel very fit right now but I am not 100 per cent. I have been staying back and working with the fitness trainer to get myself sharper. I even decided not to come to Jamaica in the holidays - my family came down - because I wanted to do more work to get myself prepared for this upcoming season," he said.
Breaking into the Leicester team is not the only goal of the player who left Jamaica close to 10 years ago. Donning the black, gold and green is still high on his agenda.
"I would still love to play for Jamaica. I am at a new team now so I am trying to settle down but as long as I am needed I will be there, and this is at any level that I am called for."
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