Another pre-season boost for Leicester City ahead of 2021/22

After a football season affected by the repercussions of the global pandemic, the upcoming campaign presents a few additional boosts to the Leicester City squad.

Currently, the intentional continental tournaments are underway. It will be followed by the onset of the Tokyo Olympics and later the Africa Cup of Nations. The usual breaks in the club fixtures in September, October, November, and March is going to be accompanied by the exemption of players who would be on additional national duty.

How is the situation for Leicester City?

Under such unprecedented scenarios, Leicester City will not be too affected. Brendan Rodgers will enjoy a boost in his choice of selections as the French duo of a returning Wesley Fofana and incoming midfielder Boubakary Soumare won’t have to answer their Olympic call-ups. Both the players have not been selected to represent the French national team that is Tokyo bound.

As per the general norm, while selecting an Olympic squad mostly the players under the age bar of 24 are chosen, with a few exceptions. It was expected, that the two Leicester City stars would record to receive their first call-ups, but that wasn’t part of the plan with France’s Under-21 boss Sylvain Ripoll.

However, why Ripoll has chosen the likes of Eduardo Camavinga, Jonathan Ikone, William Saliba, and Malang Sarr but not the City duo still create curiosity. It might be a blatant case of the coach overlooking the City stars. All in all, from Leicester City’s point of view it’s a blessing in disguise. A silver lining that the Foxes won’t mind.

The importance of a pre-season

It will be the first pre-season involvement for both Fofana and Soumare. For Wesley, it won’t add much to his benefits, but for Boubakary, the early fixtures would work as markers to his adjustability in the English style of football. The pre-season gives the players time to test out the waters. It also presents the gaffer with a few precious opportunities to try out his tactics and man-management.

If the duo had gone for the Olympics, they would have missed the whole of pre-season and have only returned to join the squad on short notice before the new Premier League season started. More squads are yet to be announced, but as of now, several teams have been made aware of their loss of manpower during the pre-season.

The Africa Cup of Nations

In January, the Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place. In that tournament, the East Midlanders should face a bit of difficulty as several of City’s stars are of African nationality. Potentially five players could be involved in the tournament. Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfred Ndidi will be representing Nigeria, Senegal’s Papy Mendy and Ghana’s Daniel Amartey could also be involved, with Kamal Sowah if he remains and impresses enough to earn a call-up.

The only assurance is the new signee, Patson Daka, will remain at the club during this time as the Zambian national team did not qualify. The period will be a tricky one- the involved players will be missing a handful of City games. Fixtures including the FA Cup third and fourth rounds and Premier League clashes with Burnley, Brighton, and Liverpool could be vital to shape the season’s outcome.