Leicester City player ruled out for rest of season after surgery

When this season ends, the word ‘injury’ is one that many Leicester City fans will never want to hear again. For the last two seasons, the Foxes have suffered injury blows throughout their squad that have greatly impacted what the team can achieve. This shows no sign of stopping as yet another player has been ruled out of action, this time for the rest of the season.

Ryan Bertrand has endured a poor first season at Leicester, and that’s putting it lightly. Initially, it looked as if Bertrand’s transfer was quite a savvy move after City signed him as a free transfer from Southampton. The 32-year-old veteran brought with him a wealth of experience, including a Champions League with Chelsea, as well as 19 caps for England.

Pre-season showed much promise, including a fantastic display against Villarreal in the 3-2 friendly win at King Power – in which he assisted two goals. Following that, he started at Wembley as the Foxes faced Manchester City in the Community Shield, keeping a clean sheet and winning the trophy in a solid 1-0 display.

There was some building excitement over Bertrand ahead of the Premier League season, however he was then ruled out of the first 3 fixtures after contracting COVID-19. His return to the side was in the 1-0 loss to the Citizens in September with the left back looking sloppy and tired, a complete shell of the player we saw in July and August.

Further poor displays led to him being reduced to Europa and Cup games only, but his bad form continued. Bertrand’s last Premier League game was the 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace in October.

His presence in Europe was little to none, and his two appearances in the Carabao Cup saw him play in a back three as a centre back. However, this positional change didn’t improve much, shipping 5 goals in those two games and missing his penalty in the shoot-out loss at Anfield – his last game for Leicester City.

Injuries and poor form continued to haunt Bertrand, culminating in him pulling up with an injury in his knee in the build up to the Boxing Day fixture away to Man City. This injury has been one too many for the former England man, with him now needing to undergo surgery to fix the issue, ruling him out for the rest of the season.

Bertrand’s presence won’t necessarily be missed, with him being brought to the club to cover left back whilst James Justin recovered from injury. Justin’s return is therefore timely, and the back-up of Luke Thomas ensures that Bertrand hasn’t created a gap in the squad.

Speaking to the press, Foxes manager Brendan Rodgers had this to say on Bertrand’s long injury layoff:

"“Ryan’s had an operation and that’s going to keep him out for a large part of the season […] I spoke to Ryan, his operation has gone well. He’s had a real challenging season himself. He hasn’t quite been to the level he would have liked for a number of reasons. This has probably topped it off for him.”“He’s got to go away now and he’ll recover, get himself stronger. He’ll be in when the others are off at the end of the season getting himself ready and then we’ll see what he’s like come pre-season.”Brendan Rodgers via the Leicester Mercury"

Bertrand’s injury has led to him dropping out of the Europa Conference League squad, with James Justin replacing him.

Recently, Rodgers has been hinting of a summer clear-out in the transfer window, and I suspect that Bertrand may just well be a part of that. Whilst he still has a year left on his deal, I’m sure that the Foxes will be keen to offload their third-choice left back.

Clearing the former Saint’s wages from the books will be ideal, getting any transfer fee for him would be a bonus. Overall, Bertrand has made 11 professional appearances for Leicester, winning 3 games.