'A Big Motivation For Me' – Vestergaard On Leicester's Forward-Thinking Approach
Following the earlier arrivals of Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumaré and Ryan Bertrand, former Southampton centre-back Vestergaard – an international team-mate of Denmark's Kasper Schmeichel – has agreed a deal to 2024 at King Power Stadium.
The 6ft 6in Dane joins a talented group of defenders at the Club ahead of a campaign which will include UEFA Europa League football on top of Leicester's domestic commitments, which began last weekend with victory in the FA Community Shield.
Speaking at LCFC Training Ground in Seagrave this week, the 29-year-old told LCFC TV: "I’m very happy, very motivated. I’ve had a very warm welcome, both from coaching staff and the players, of the ones I’ve seen so far, so I’m very excited.
"Now it’s happened, the way it happened, I’m very happy with it and I’m really excited to get going. It’s a special club that’s done very well over many years and I think the project is very, very exciting, even from the outside looking in. To be a part of it is a big thing for me.
Vestergaard also discussed his early conversations with new manager Brendan Rodgers and the attraction of joining a club which has regularly competed for – and won – major honours over previous seasons.
"I’ve had a talk with him," the former Borussia Mönchengladbach centre-back added. "I spoke with him today when I got here. I am a fan of how his teams play and how Leicester have played the last couple of years.
"I believe I have qualities that can help the team and I just look forward to evolving and becoming a better player under his guidance.
"I’m 29 but I’m not, I hope, at the end of my development. I’ve never felt better so I think it’s a great pairing. Winning trophies is something that every player dreams of and I’m no different. I’ve not had the luck yet to achieve anything like Leicester have just in recent weeks and recent months.
"I’m not even talking about the title the Club won some years ago, so that is a big motivation for me, but I’ll be working on the small stuff every day to try and help the team. What this club has proven is that it’s a team effort, it’s not any one particular player, it’s a team effort and I’d like to be a part of that team."
The facilities on offer at the Club, following the opening of LCFC Training Ground last year, also impress Vestergaard, who joins Leicester during the same week which saw proposals revealed for an expansion of King Power Stadium and development of the surrounding area.
"It’s world-class," he continued. "I’ve not seen anything like it really to be honest. It’s very, very impressive. The facilities are one thing, but it’s also filled with passionate people, that’s my first impression of the team and the team around the team.
"Right now, I’m very impressed by everything and it’s just a feeling of one big team, family even. I still have to experience that first-hand, but that’s the first impression I get and I think that comes from the owners through the board and the manager and players and staff. It’s been quite some day."
While Vestergaard knows Bertrand well from their shared spells at St. Mary's Stadium, the Hvidovre-born international is also familiar with Denmark colleague Schmeichel, who regularly speaks glowingly about Leicester City.
"Kasper and Ryan, I know very well, and I get along with them off the pitch, so that’s going to be very easy," he explained. "Just from my first impression of the guys in the dressing room, they’re a good bunch of guys, and I’m sure I’ll settle in very quickly.
"[Schmeichel has] been going on about this club for all the years I’ve known him. Every time we’re with the national team, he has something good to say about his club and its people. It’s not been a sales pitch deliberately, but he’s always spoken very highly of everything in and around the Club.
"He’s been here for 10 years now, so that speaks for itself. He only has good things to say."