What’s going on at Leicester City as 9 senior players injured

Leicester City’s missing men

To help see where the problem lays, it’s best to break the injury list down into three different sections: long-term, medium-term, and short-term absences.

Long-term absences

Three of the nine are experiencing long layoffs, all of them fullbacks. First, and most recent, is James Justin. Still only 24, the versatile defender is experiencing his second serious injury in three seasons. After scoring a glorious goal, and looking back to his confident best against Newport, the former Luton man was struck down and suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The prognosis was devastating and all-but confirmed he would miss the remainder of the season. His previous injury was another Achilles injury, this time rupturing his cruciate ligament, which saw him out for 331 days, missing 49 games. His near year-long recovery perhaps suggests that it may be around October until we see Justin back in blue.

Another who has ruptured his Achilles tendon, Ricardo Pereira has endured an awful run of setbacks. In fact, in March 2020 he suffered the exact same injury which saw him absent for nearly a year, only for his return to be marred with a thigh injury soon after.

The backroom staff should take some blame for his thigh setback; it was never a good idea for him to play on a solid cold pitch in the Europa League against Zorya Luhansk. Come the end of 2021, after finally getting back into form, Ricardo would miss two months of football due to a leg fracture.

Now 29, the Portuguese suffered his latest injury in a pre-season game against Sevilla with the hope being that he would be back playing come February. Now that due date seems overly hopeful; the fullback has not yet been back in full training. Even when he is fully fit, the club need to manage his comeback far better than 2021 or risk doing further harm.

The final long-term absence is Ryan Bertrand. The former Champions League winner has had a dreadful time at Leicester and played himself out of form. However, in December 2021, he experienced issues in his knee that kept him out until February. When the issue couldn’t be fixed, he elected to have knee surgery, ending his season.

Bertrand hasn’t been seen since and has now missed over a year of football. Last month Rodgers revealed that he had been back on the grass but was nowhere near a return to match fitness. With no return date in sight, he leaves Luke Thomas as the only fit senior left-back at the club. Bertrand’s contract expires in June with no hint that his deal will be extended.

Medium-term absences