Enzo Maresca, Leicester City manager, joked that he might have to retire on Tuesday night at Sunderland in the Championship.
Injuries to Ricardo Pereira and Dennis Praet have left the Foxes without a midfield option as the club looks to return to the Premier League immediately after relegation last season.
It has been confirmed that Ricardo will be out until the international break after injuring a thigh muscle in training ahead of the defeat to QPR, a blow for Maresbo as the Portuguese central midfielder had missed just one game before last weekend’s defeat.
Praet limped off the pitch after 15 minutes of the game against QPR as he clutched his thigh muscle, and Leicester City now have very few central midfielders ahead of this week’s game against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
“Ricardo is injured and will be out until the international break,” said Leicester City manager. “Dennis is injured again. I was a central midfielder. I will probably be able to play half an hour and 45 minutes on Tuesday (against Sunderland) because at the moment we only have Harry Winks, Kiernan and Yunus.”
Kasey McAteer remains injured and defender Jannik Vestergaard is suspended. Wilfred Ndidi is also not yet able to return to the Leicester City squad.
Discussing his attacking options and the decision to leave Kelechi Iheanacho out of the squad, Maresca added: “It’s not easy for Kelechi, like all players who are sometimes out of the squad, because they are good players and they deserve it. But we had Jamie and Tom on the bench, so it’s just because of that.”