Ricardo, Barnes, Ward & Bertrand – The Manager's Fitness Update

- Manager Brendan Rodgers provides a fitness update on his Leicester City squad
- Ricardo Pereira is expected to be out for up to six months after rupturing his Achilles
- Harvey Barnes will miss 'a few weeks' with a knee issue also sustained against Sevilla last week
- Danny Ward (knee) has trained in the week, although Ryan Bertrand (knee) is not ready to return

Both Ricardo and Barnes were withdrawn during the 1-0 pre-season friendly win over Sevilla at King Power Stadium last Sunday. Ricardo, who has suffered an ACL injury in the past, has undergone an operation on his Achilles this week. Goalkeeper Danny Ward, on the other hand, has trained this week.

The Foxes start the 2022/23 Premier League season at home against Brentford on Sunday (2pm kick-off).

"It was looking really good and then we picked up some injuries in our last game here versus Sevilla," Rodgers told the media on Friday afternoon. "Sadly, Ricardo Pereira will be out up to six months.

"He ruptured his Achilles, which is just such a shame because a lot of our game idea over the summer was based around full-backs and him in particular. He was looking so good. It’s a massive blow to him. He had his operation last night and he’ll recover now, get strong again and come back better I’m sure.

"He’ll be a big miss for us but we have to push on."

On Barnes, meanwhile, Rodgers added: "He came off [in the game]. We didn’t think it was too bad at the time, but he may be out for a few weeks yet with his knee. Apart from that, the squad is okay. Hopefully Harvey won’t be too long.

"He’ll come back and pick up where he left off because he’s had a really good pre-season."

Ward, on the other hand, has featured for the Club's Development Squad in midweek and also trained with his team-mates in Seagrave.

"He’s come through that really well," the Northern Irishman explained. "No issues at all. He’d been training for a week or so up until that point. He played well in the game, had no problems and has had a good week’s training."

Ryan Bertrand is one player who definitely won't feature with a knee injury which kept him out of much of last season.

"He hasn’t featured at all [in pre-season], Ryan," said Rodgers. "He’s still a number of weeks away from being fit. He hasn’t been included."