Rodgers Delivers Fitness Update On Barnes, Ricardo & Fofana
- Leicester City face Randers in the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday (5:45pm kick-off)
- The Foxes go into the knockout round play-off clash with a 4-1 aggregate lead
- Harvey Barnes is expected to be available for City in Denmark, says manager Brendan Rodgers
- Ricardo Pereira (leg) will be assessed and Wesley Fofana (fibula) is recovering well also
The Foxes face the Danish Superliga side at Randers Stadium on Thursday evening (5:45pm kick-off) after opening up a 4-1 advantage in the first leg. Wilfred Ndidi, Harvey Barnes, Patson Daka and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall found the net on Filbert Way last week.
Winger Harvey Barnes missed Sunday's Premier League visit to Wolverhampton Wanderers with a hamstring complaint, while Ricardo Pereira – who signed a new contract at the Club last week – continues to be assessed as part of his return from a leg issue sustained in late December.
"Harvey trained yesterday," Rodgers told the media ahead of flying to Jutland later on Wednesday. "He wasn’t good for the weekend but he should be fine for [facing Randers]. Ricardo Pereira, we just need to assess and look at.
"The plan for him is obviously working well at the minute and we just have to be careful with him when we put him into those extra games during the week. We’ll finalise that today but the likelihood is that he won’t travel."
Defender Wesley Fofana, on the other hand, has returned to group training on the pitches at LCFC Training Ground as part of the young Frenchman's return from a fractured fibula picked up in a pre-season friendly against Villarreal last August. Fofana's quality is already on show in Seagrave, Rodgers says.
"We have to be careful with Wesley but we’ll manage that," the Northern Irishman added. "He’s just joined training, so he’s not imminently close to playing. We’ll give him a few weeks training with the squad and then we’ll take it from there really.
"Just to see him back in training, it really shows what we’ve missed. This is a genuine top talent. When you see him come back in, it was like the first day he came in to train when he joined us. It’s a different mentality – aggression, anticipation. It’s just sheer quality that the boy has.
"We’ll just build him up and there’s no doubt, when he gets back to playing, it will be great to have him back in the team. Throughout his rehabilitation, he’s been superb. For a young player, in particular, it’s his first real big injury, so it’ll be hard for him to be out, but he really focused on his work ever so hard.
Fofana In Training With The First Team
Foxes defender Wesley Fofana joins the Leicester City squad for a training session in Seagrave.
"It’s great to have him back. It’s like JJ (James Justin) coming back in (from an ACL injury). You see the quality of the player that you’ve been missing when they’re back in the group. That gives the group a boost. He’s a genuine top player. When you have that quality, you see the mentality of him.
"He's aggressive, he fights for every ball, he’s competitive and then, when he has the ball, he’s got big quality. To have that back in your training will always improve the level. It’s great for me to see that on its way back into the team."
City have been hit by several injury problems in 2021/22 – and Rodgers is still without Timothy Castagne (thigh), Ryan Bertrand (knee), Jonny Evans (hamstring) and Jamie Vardy (hamstring) as well as Fofana – and the manager says careful monitoring of their condition is key.
Initially discussing Ricardo's phased return in more detail, he explained: "He just had a few disrupted comebacks. Some of it has been unfortunate, but I just think with him, on this, we’ll always go on the feeling of the player. We’re trying to build a robust team.
"We want players to be able to play three times a week. You’re going to have to if you want to be in European football and you want to compete in European competitions. You have to be ready to be playing 50-plus games a season.
"In Ricky’s specific case, he’s had a couple of comebacks that just haven’t quite worked for him. He wasn’t quite back to the level that we want him at last season (after recovering from an earlier ACL injury). Now you can see him in his last couple of appearances, especially against Wolves, that player we all love and we admire. We just need to be careful with it. That’s something we’ve discussed."
All times GMT.