Ricardo Pereira is nearing a second attempt at a Leicester City comeback.
The right-back has been out with a groin problem for the past month after making his long-awaited return from cruciate ligament surgery in the Europa League clash at Zorya Luhansk.
He is now back in training, but won’t quite be ready in time to face Stoke City in the FA Cup this weekend.
“Ricardo is coming along really well,” Rodgers said. “It’s just too soon for him this weekend. He’s back in with the squad training.”
He is not the only player who will miss this weekend’s game, with Jamie Vardy and James Maddison ruled out, and Cengiz Under a doubt.
Get the full injury story here.
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Iversen swaps Leuven for Preston
Leicester City goalkeeper Daniel Iversen has joined Preston on loan for the remainder of the season.
The Dane had been on loan at City’s sister club OH Leuven, and was due to stay there for the whole campaign, but he lost his place after suffering an injury, and will now head to Championship play-off chasers North End.
Iversen is highly-rated at City, and has even joined Kasper Schmeichel in the senior Denmark set-up in recent years.
The 23-year-old has a contract until 2025, and has earned rave reviews in previous loan spells with Oldham in League Two and then last season at Rotherham, when he helped the Millers to promotion in League One.
He is expected to go straight in as first choice at Preston, who are short of goalkeeping cover following an injury to number one Declan Rudd.
Read what Preston boss Alex Neil had to say about Iversen here.
Sowah is ‘total package’
Leicester City loanee Kamal Sowah may be the “total package” but his current boss believes he is not yet ready for the Premier League.
The versatile Ghanaian midfielder, who is in fourth season on loan at OH Leuven, has taken the Belgian top flight by storm, scoring six goals and creating four more as City’s sister club have risen to sixth.
Sowah is still only 20, and his performances have been catching Brendan Rodgers’ eye, but Leuven boss Marc Brys feels he needs more time in Belgium, despite singing his praises.
Sowah recently received at least one vote in the running for the Golden Shoe, awarded to the best player in the Belgian top flight by football pundits and journalists. Dennis Praet was the winner in 2014, while Youri Tielemans was runner-up in 2017.
After Sowah’s nomination, Brys told Het Laaste Nieuws: “If there is one player in our squad who has everything, it is Kamal Sowah. He has an exceptional running ability, he does a lot of intense sprints, at high speed. He has good feet, and thinks quickly. And he works for the team.”
Read more here.
King seeks Pearson advice
Andy King sought the advice of Nigel Pearson before upping sticks and moving to Belgium to join OH Leuven.
The Welsh midfielder has found his first club since leaving Leicester City last summer in a fellow King Power outfit, who are battling for a European spot in their first season back in the Belgian top flight.
But it was not a decision taken on a whim by King, who spoke to former City boss Pearson, who spent 18 months at Leuven from 2017 to 2019, as well as goalkeeper Daniel Iversen and forward Josh Eppiah, who are both on loan at Leuven from Leicester.
“It’s a new country, a new competition, that appealed to me anyway,” said King. “You also have the link with Leicester City.
“I talked to Pearson, Eppiah and Iversen. They told me some good things about both the club and the city. Nigel knows (Leuven’s current head coach) Marc Brys quite well and told me I wouldn’t regret my move.”
Click here for more from King.
