Leicester City are experiencing a serious injury crisis. After losing both Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Boubakary Soumare to muscle injuries within the first eight minutes of Tuesday’s loss to Fulham, the Foxes now have nine senior players out of action.
Not only this, but the lack of confidence and belief that Brendan Rodgers has in the rest of his team, as well as the poor form of key attacking players such as Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy, has seen Leicester fall back into a dangerous relegation scrap.
It’s left many scratching their heads wondering what is going on at the club. In their last three games, LCFC have lost four players to injury. After a lengthy World Cup break, the players should be fully fit. Instead, the squad are going down like flies.
Before we break down each of Leicester’s injuries, it’s important mention the big changes that have occurred behind-the-scenes to the club’s medical staff.
In 2020, Brendan Rodgers revealed that City were the only Premier League club ‘that didn’t have a full-time doctor‘, with the manager saying he was looking to ‘revamp the medical team and bring in a Head of Medicine.’ The first step of his shape-up was to sack Head Physio Dave Rennie after more than 20 years’ service to the club.
City then welcomed in their new Head of Medicine, Dr Bryan English. English’s time at the club, however, was to be a short stint and he left at the end of the 2021-22 season. In his place, Rodgers oversaw the recruitment of Mark Waller. Waller had previously spent four years at Rangers and brought a raft of experience with him.
Behind Waller is Matt Reeves, the Foxes’ longstanding Fitness and Conditioning Coach who has been at the club since 2011; Glen Driscoll, First Team Fitness Coach; Mitch Willis, First Team Strength and Power Coach; and Dr Ian Patchett, officially credited as the Club Doctor – Patchett’s commitments to the club are impacted by him also working as a GP.
Perhaps it’s too simple to say that the recent restructure could be impacting the fitness of the players, but it is telling that the revamp has coincided with a series of dreadful injurys within the squad.
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
The player that LCFC miss the most, James Maddison has yet to play any football since he went off with a knee injury against West Ham in November. Still, it wasn’t enough to see him miss the World Cup, with the 26-year-old being named on the bench for three of England’s games.
He never made it onto the field though, coming back with a new knee issue that has seen him absent from all three of Leicester’s post-World Cup games. Maddison, worryingly, recently went to London to see a specialist and Rodgers has been coy about a return date. At the moment, he said the club are taking his recovery day-by-day, not wanting to rush him back.
It puts him out of Saturday’s FA Cup clash, and I’d be surprised if we see him back before late January. In the last three seasons, Maddison has suffered nine spells on the side-lines with frequent injuries to his knees and to his hip, missing 24 games for the Foxes. His track-record is concerning to say the least.
Whilst fans miss Maddison, the defence misses Jonny Evans. The Club Captain is the definition of a leader on the pitch and the backline has suffered in his absence. City have been without him since a mid-season friendly against Troyes in December after he left the pitch with a calf problem.
The initial prognosis was for him to only be out for a couple of weeks; however it was recently revealed that he’ll be out until at least early February. Like Maddison, Evans has a concerning recent injury record at Leicester. The 35-year-old previously missed 19 straight games and 109 days due to a hamstring issue in December 2021, returning in March. Before that, a plantar fasciitis issue saw him sat on the side-lines for the opening of the 2021-22 season.
The final two in this category are the two most recent additions to the list: KDH and Soumare. Named in the starting lineup for the Fulham game, KDH felt a pain in his glute and couldn’t play, meanwhile it was only eight minutes into the match when Soumare felt a twist in his hamstring and couldn’t continue.
Two key cogs in the base of midfield, their absences left City vulnerable as they lost 1-0 to the London side. In his recent press conference Brendan Rodgers didn’t give a return date for either midfielder, only saying that they were awaiting further assessment to see the extent of their injuries.
Rodgers didn’t suggest the issues were serious, but they’ve been ruled out for the FA Cup tie; I wouldn’t expect them back any time soon. They could be out for a few weeks, but with the way the club is going at the moment, it could end up being a similar return date to Evans.
Short-term absences
The one injury that is no fault of Rodgers or his staff, Dennis Praet suffered a knock to his ribs when contesting a 50-50 with Joelinton against Newcastle. Praet came off worse and the Belgian had to be subbed off.
Thankfully, Rodgers revealed that the 28-year-old is back in training ahead of the game against Gillingham and may have a chance of featuring, though this is most likely from the bench. His recovery is a major boost for a decimated midfield and attack.
His return should be carefully monitored though. Praet’s recent injury record is pretty poor; the midfielder missed over 100 days of football last season whilst on loan to Torino. He suffered several issues and required foot surgery during his troubled spell in Italy.
Another good piece of news was that Patson Daka has all-but recovered from his hamstring scare which saw him subbed off early against Liverpool. Like Praet, he has returned to training and could have a chance on the bench on Saturday, though I suspect they may rest him with Vardy and Iheanacho both capable replacements.
Rodgers’ justification
The list doesn’t make for pretty reading, but the breakdown is worse. Of those nine out, six of them are muscle related. Only two of the nine – Maddison and KDH – suffered their injuries outside of a game. The two most serious injuries, Justin and Pereira, are repeats of previous serious issues, whilst Maddison’s is also a familiar problem. Worst of all, however, is that six of the list have suffered their injuries in the last month.
So, with an ever-growing list of injured players, what was Rodgers’ reasoning for the crisis? According to him, it’s a small squad. This is what the manager had to say after the Fulham game:
"“What you have to look at are players having to play a lot of games because the squad is so small. We played the other night in a really intense game [at Liverpool]. We virtually did nothing but recover until tonight. Then it [KDH’s injury] happens in the warm-up. “You’re always assessing the injuries, how they happen, and whether you can prevent them, that’s always the case. I think the reality for us is that the squad is very small and a lot of players are having to play games where I want to take them out. “For example, Luke Thomas, I’d love to have been able to give him a breather, but he’s our only left-back. That’s where we’re at.” Quotes via LeicestershireLive"
Rodgers’ reasoning doesn’t exactly stand up, however. Sure, a squad will be tested when you have nine absentees, but Leicester’s squad wasn’t small to begin with. In fact, the squad was so bloated that the Foxes were in a position where they had to sell players in order to sign anyone, resulting in the departures of both Kasper Schmeichel and Wesley Fofana.
Rodgers’ real issue isn’t a small squad, instead it’s the lack of quality within it. Just looking at the options he had on the bench against Fulham, you can tell that the quality of player just isn’t there.
Of the current Premier League squad, seven of those have now entered the last year of their contracts and will depart the club for free in June. Other than Youri Tielemans and Jonny Evans, those players are ones that Rodgers will quite happily see the back of.
Furthermore, numerous players are out of form when it comes to a starting XI. Bertrand, Caglar Soyuncu, Jannik Vestergaard, Daniel Amartey, Luke Thomas, Marc Albrighton, Praet, Papy Mendy, Ayoze Perez, and Kelechi Iheanacho are all out of favour – those who have been starting are only doing so because of injuries to others.
The squad is rotten, and players who spark life and leadership within the team are stuck on the treatment table whilst Rodgers gees up the castaways to do a job for the manager that doesn’t back them.
This, combined with one of the tightest and most gruelling schedules the Premier League has ever seen, has meant that we are noticing the injured players more, because their replacements aren’t good enough. But the relenting demands of the season mean there’s no respite.
So how do Leicester fix this? Currently Rodgers’ men find themselves in three separate competitions. The size of the squad means that, truthfully, they’ll only be able to focus on two if they are to have any success. Premier League survival is the priority this season, anything else is a bonus. Now, Rodgers must decide which he feels is more valuable, the FA Cup, or the Carabao Cup.
Secondly, is for good transfer business both in the summer but also this month. The club is said to be looking for a new left-back, a central defender and a right winger. If deals can be done in time, and if money is spare, they may also look at a central midfielder.
As the season ploughs on, it’s essential that Rodgers and his staff get January right. With three losses out of three so far, the club must change their fortunes around, with good business being essential. If they can buy additional quality bodies, it’ll be a positive first step, but they must also shift their deadwood.
If Leicester are to survive the season, Rodgers needs to get the best out of everyone. A Cup may be nice, but such ambitions will have to wait until the squad is healthy enough to compete. One thing is for sure, if any more injuries are picked up, Rodgers must look at the staff around him. Perhaps his internal revamp isn’t over just yet.