Enzo Maresca gives an update on the fitness of his squad ahead of a huge game in the Championship promotion race against Leeds United at the King Power Stadium on Friday
A recurrence of a muscle problem will prevent Yunus Akgun from returning to the Leicester City squad against Leeds.
Yunus had returned to City training this week after missing the last two games with what appeared to be a thigh problem picked up at Swansea, where he limped off. But at Seagrave, the issue returned and he’s now been ruled out of Friday night’s heavyweight clash.
Wilfred Ndidi also remains out with his own muscle issue, with the Nigerian midfielder not due to be back until after the international break. But in better news, summer signing Tom Cannon could be included in a squad for the first time after training all week. The striker has missed the past two months with a back issue.
“(Yunus) trained but unfortunately he felt something again in the session, so he’s out,” Maresca said at his press conference on Thursday afternoon. “It’s a muscle problem.
“Wilf will be out until the international break. It’s a muscle problem. It’s a small thing. But if the problem is with a muscle, even if it’s small, it’s always one or two weeks, so he’s going to be out until the international break. Also because we don’t want to take any risks.
“Tom is back with us. Kasey (McAteer) is back. It’s good news. But at the same time, there is some bad news, but it’s normal when you play the amount of games we play.
“(Cannon) is fit, but because he’s been a long time out, he needs to be slow. We’ll see. We have a session today, we’ll see if we can involve him for tomorrow’s game. Otherwise for sure the next one (against Middlesbrough).”
As mentioned by Maresca, McAteer is available again, the winger returning as a substitute at QPR after a month out with a pulled hamstring. He only had one training session with the group before that appearance at Loftus Road, but with a full week behind him, he could now start.
“He looks good,” Maresca said of McAteer. “He played some minutes last week. You can see he is ready. If he is going to play tomorrow, he could be an option.”
