New Burnley signing features in behind-closed-doors friendly against Manchester City
Lesley Ugochukwu didn’t feature for Burnley today during their final pre-season friendly against Lazio – but he was involved in a behind-closed-doors outing.
That’s according to Clarets boss Scott Parker, who revealed the midfielder got around 60 minutes under his belt following his switch from Chelsea last week.
Martin Dubravka and Armando Broja – two other players to join the club this week – weren’t involved in the game, which is understood to have taken place against Manchester City’s Under-21s.
“There was a game today at the training ground against Man City, so some of the boys played there,” Parker told the Burnley Express after today’s 1-0 defeat to Lazio.
“Again, we’re just trying to balance the load. I didn't want to bring a big squad here and then people miss out on minutes, so a lot of players played in the game this morning against Man City, just to give them some minutes.
“Lesley played 60 minutes, I think, so I was pleased with that.
"With the new boys, they've not had any football over pre-season. While they've been training for the last three weeks, it's probably been a bit light. They've been in a light-ish group with not many numbers.
“We've got their data through and worked out how much they've done. It was probably a bit too early to feature in this game [Lazio], it's why only Leslie played in the game today.”
Bashir Humphreys, Zeki Amdouni and Zian Flemming all missed out today through injury, while Connor Roberts is still thought to be nursing a slight knock.
Etienne Green, Jordan Beyer, Hannes Delcroix, Shurandy Sambo, Axel Tuanzebe, Aaron Ramsey, Enock Agyei, Jaydon Banel, Manuel Benson, Darko Churlinov, Mike Tresor and Michael Obafemi were not involved in the Lazio game either.
In a bizarre ruling, Josh Laurent was able to play against Lazio despite picking up a red card during last week’s friendly at Stoke City, as the behind-closed-doors game against Man City counted towards his suspension.
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