Leicestershire

Leicester City defenders Caleb Okoli and Ben Nelson feature on the latest edition of BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling podcast.

The pair sit down to talk to Owynn Palmer-Atkin at Leicester's pre-season training camp in the town of Stegersbach in Austria.

Okoli, 24, is in his second season with the Foxes after moving to the King Power Stadium from Italian club Atalanta in the summer of 2024, while 21-year-old Nelson is back with Leicester ahead of their return to the Championship after spending last season out on loan at Oxford United.

Both player have outlined their desire to help get the 2015-16 Premier League title winners back to the top flight after promotion from the Championship in 2024 was immediately followed by relegation.

"Everybody knows we need to bounce back and that is our main target," Okoli told BBC Radio Leicester.

"Everyone knows that Leicester City belongs to the Premier League for the history of the club and everthhing they have achieved."

Image source, Getty Images

Tucked away in a secluded part of the Austrian countryside, a couple of hours from Vienna, is Stegersbach. It's where Leicester City have based themselves for an important period of their pre-season preparations.

It's hot and humid. The sort of days where you'd rather be relaxing by a pool, but a passionate Marti Cifuentes is making his players work. Hard.

There is though, a positive feeling around the camp, a flavour of optimism not seen since the last time they found themselves in England's second tier.

You get the sense that the players are buying into his ideas too. Today we spoke to Caleb Okoli and Ben Nelson for the When You're Smiling podcast, and both praised their new managers enthusiasm and tactical philosophy.

They are two players desperate to find themselves in the starting line-up and helping lead this club back to the Premier League. This club belongs there, according to Okoli.

Tomorrow though, they leave Austria. But only once they've completed their final checkpoint, of two fixtures back-to-back in two different arenas en route back to Vienna.

That could prove a real indication as to where the Foxes are in the Cifuentes-Masterplan.

Leicester City manager Marti Cifuentes tells BBC Radio Leicester that he is 'grateful' for the support he has received since being named Foxes boss.

The Spaniard has spent much of his first week at the helm of the East Midlands club getting to know his players on their pre-season trip to Austria.

He says he is "looking forward" to the challenge of trying to get Leicester out of the Championship for the second time in three seasons after they were relegated from the Premier League under Ruud van Nistelrooy.

"I know how tough sometimes it can be after relegation, but I want to bring them this love of the game that they enjoy," he said.