Happily, there has been a crucial injury boost for Leicester City over the past two excruciating weeks of the international break. Question marks have swirled over the heads of Foxes stars Jamie Vardy and Facundo Buonanotte, yet fears are supposedly now allayed. That is if we can trust the wily media liaising of LCFC gaffer Steve Cooper. The Welshman also provided fitness news on further members of the City squad.
And the ex-Nottingham Forest boss actually had a figurative axe to grind when conducting his pre-match press conference. Before playing Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, Cooper wanted to talk about his disappointing summer at King Power Stadium. The 44-year-old blames one negative aspect for interrupting and affecting the east Midlanders’ summer tranfer window: Profit and Sustainability rules.
Steve Cooper on Leicester City’s PSR avoidance, how it impacted the club’s plans over the course of the offseason until transfer opportunities ceased
Cooper is mightily frustrated that uncertainty which loomed over Leicester’s heads in 2024 impacted their signings and who was offloaded. You can’t blame him at all: he inherited a difficult situation on Filbert Way, in spite of team strides duly made by former manager Enzo Maresca.
Foxes recruitment was unsure for the entirety of preseason. The department never had real assurance until September – once the window had slammed shut. In addition to that fact, LCFC staff felt they had to scramble to sell and loan players in order to gain finance and parity.
This measure did actually help balance the Leicestershire side’s books, as well as alleviate some significant wage problems. Yet the huge unpredictability left a squad probably not looking how it was supposed to.
In turn, this gave Cooper more issues to solve than he already had as chief of a relegation-tipped team. You can listen to what the Pontypridd-born man had to say by heading over to Sky Sports via this link.
Foxes injury roundup and insight
Leicester shall be truly delighted to have Vardy and new fan favourite Buonanotte available for selection versus Palace. Attacking threat and guile is required against the occasionally solid Eagles defence under outfit leader Oliver Glasner.
Although, loanee Odsonne Edouard is unavailable due to his alliance to the South London side. Meanwhile Patson Daka and Jakub Stolarczyk remain injured.
Promisingly, no fresh difficulties occurred whilst players were on international duty. Though Bobby De Cordova-Reid is yet to return to Seagrave.