- Yohan Benalouane says the hard work starts now following his first few days back at Belvoir Drive
- The Leicester City defender embraced the feeling of being back on the pitch with his team-mates following the summer break
- Benalouane has enjoyed working with new assistant manager Michael Appleton, who oversaw training alongside manager Craig Shakespeare
The central defender has spent over a month away from Belvoir Drive after featuring heavily towards the end of the 2016/17 season.
The training ground is a place where team-mates become more than just colleagues, but a group of friends that embark on the toughest of footballing journeys in England’s top flight.
And while he admitted his summer was an enjoyable one, Benalouane now has just one thing on his mind – to become fitter, stronger and more alert ahead of the new season.
“I feel good,” Benalouane reflected to LCFC TV after taking part in his first training session of pre-season.
“The summer was good and now we start to work. We’ve had testing and I feel good and everybody was happy so it’s been a good day.
“We worked a little bit with the ball after first having tests and it’s a good sensation. When you don’t play for one month, the ball misses you, so it was very nice.”
The first training session back proved to be a good sensation indeed, not least for first team manager Craig Shakespeare and new assistant manager Michael Appleton, who both set about preparing their squad for the upcoming campaign.
Benalouane added: “Now, we’ll work with the new staff. There is one new person (Michael Appleton) and today (Monday) we started to get to know him and Shakey (Craig Shakespeare) we know very well.
“Congratulations to him and I hope that we can work hard and start very well in the Premier League.
“Pre-season is very important. We have to work very well because we will build up slowly, slowly. After one month, I think we’ll be ready for the first game.”