Young ace Aman Verma lives the Leicester City dream

Leicester City midfielder Aman Verma says he is living the dream of playing for his home-town club.

And the 21-year-old from Humberstone is now targeting a shot at manager Nigel Pearson’s first-team squad.

Verma has already done enough since joining City last December to land a one-year contract.

He said after Saturday’s 3-1 friendly win at Kings Lynn: “Signing for City is the best thing ever.”

“I’m waking up every morning and going off to play for Leicester. It’s been my dream ever since I was a kid.”

Verma, who acknowledged the help of Kings Lynn manager Carl Heggs in recommending him to City, penned a six-month deal last December and, just one day later, he travelled with the first-team squad to Carlisle.

Now he wants to make the most of the extended stay that has been handed to him by Pearson. He said: “I want to play for the first team and hope to get the opportunity.”

The countdown to the big kick-off, marking City’s return to the Championship, gathers pace this week with friendlies at Mansfield tomorrow and at Shrewsbury on Saturday.

The competition for places also hots up with the players who went with Pearson to the training camp in Slovenia in contention.

Many City fans will be looking to see whether DJ Campbell features in those games.

The striker made a surprise appearance at Kings Lynn. He was not named in the original squad for the trip to Norfolk but featured in the opening 45 minutes.

Reserve-team manager Gerry Taggart said: “He has been training for the past two weeks.

“We thought we would give him a run-out and he looked quite sharp.”

However, Taggart was reluctant to discuss Campbell’s future. He said: “That’s not for me to comment on. I don’t know what is going to happen.”

Campbell joined City for £1.6m in July, 2007 but has struggled to make an impression after injury problems. He has two years left on his contract but, after a loan spell at Blackpool, said he did not want to return to City.