Leicester City’s Ricardo Pereira
Come their relegation in May, you’d have been forgiven for thinking that we’d seen the last of Ricardo Pereira at Leicester City. The right-back has been with the club since his £20m signing in 2018 and is far too good of a player to be in the Championship. Since the start of pre-season though, it’s been abundantly clear that he will stay.
Once regarded as one of the best right-backs on the planet come his form in 2019, Ricardo has suffered a horrific spell with injury. Since his ACL rupture in March 2020, the defender has missed over 19 months of football through calmative injuries and is yet to experience a clean season since the turn of the decade.
Now 29, he is aiming to be back to his best. We’ve already seen Ricardo merge into a midfielder in Maresca’s 3-2-4-2 formation, understandable given his brilliant work in attack. With the Foxes still stumbling in the final third, having a fully fit Ricardo adds a whole new dimension to the right of the pitch.
With Timothy Castagne clearly keen for a move away and James Justin still easing himself back into contention, Ricardo has a chance to make that right-back spot his again and, if he stays injury-free, may just play himself back into the Portugal squad (he has seven senior caps to his name).
Listed by Maresca as key leader on the pitch – and even a potential captain given the loss of previous club-captain, Jonny Evans, on a free transfer – the defender has all the tools to become one of the greatest Championship players of all time.