Awarded his first starting role at Leicester, Ghana international defender Daniel Amartey has earned a lot of praise from the fans, pundits and above all his coach Claudio Ranieri following his impressive performance in the team's 2-1 win over Swansea last Saturday. The energetic 21-year-old defender showed strength in containing Swansea's offence and helping the defending champions claim their first win of the season. "Amartey played very, very well. He now knows very well the Premier League. He can play centre-back, central midfielder, right-back, right winger, and I am very pleased with him,” Ranieri was quoted as saying on Skysports. “He was solid, strong and recovered a lot of balls." Amartey joined Leicester last January coming from Danish side FC Copenhagen. He played a few minutes in Leicester's 2-1 defeat at Hull City in their season's opener, but now seems on course to cement his place in the starting 11. However, Ranieri also said that new Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa has not yet risen to expectations. "It is important that Musa understands how we play. The Russian league is very different from English football, they play a slower tempo. The English league is very fast," Ranieri said. "He must increase his fitness and understanding. He can play together with Vardy," he concluded. The 23-year-old striker joined Leicester for a record transfer fee of £16 million after spending five seasons at CSKA Moscow. He played two games out of three but only came as a 75-minute substitute against Swansea. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
