Stephy Mavididi is only performing at “50 per cent” and will become an “unbelievable winger” when he finds the consistency that Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca is asking for.
The summer signing has been one of Maresca’s regular starters this season and has shown off his talents in fits and starts as City have surged to the top of the Championship. They take on Swansea on Saturday looking for a seventh straight league victory and Mavididi will hope to contribute with his first goal since the opening game of the winning run at Southampton.It is that 4-1 success against the Saints, where Mavididi also set up goals for Jamie Vardy and Wilfred Ndidi, that is the marker for what the 25-year-old can do, and the level which he must strive to achieve. Over the international break, Maresca told Mavididi he expects more.“Stephy for me, he is still 50 per cent,” Maresca said at his press conference on Friday. “I can see him much better. I can see him every game like the Southampton game.
“This is consistency. In the moment he becomes consistent – Southampton game, Southampton game, Southampton game, same level, same level, same level – he’ll become an important player, probably for a different level.
“At the moment, it is what it is. Game good, game less, one better, one less. That’s why for me he is still 50 per cent. In the moment he gets consistency, he becomes an unbelievable winger. He agrees. That’s why we have tried to work on that.”
With Mavididi one of the players who spent the international break at Seagrave, it gave Maresca a rare opportunity to work on small details with him and the other wingers like Abdul Fatawu and Marc Albrighton. The manager is hoping that minor improvements lead to big results.
“We had 10 or 11 players here, so we tried to focus with all of them,” Maresca said. “We did something specific this time with Stephy, Abdul, and Marc, the wingers. It’s the best. When you like to be on the pitch and coach players, it’s the best moment. It’s what we like, to try to teach them and to improve them. It’s a good moment.
“During the international break, we have time to spend with them to improve the small details. During the season, there is no time to work. With Stephy, with Abdul, we tried to work on the first touch, the first control. Sometimes it has to be with the right, sometimes it has to be with the left, just to teach them when to use one, and when to use the other one.”
