Praet’s injury could prolong Choudhury’s stay at City

BUT LOAN STAR AT LUTON CAN’T BE RECALLED

LEICESTER City have missed the deadline to recall Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from his loan spell at Luton, which could leave them short of midfield options for the second half of the season. City have lost Dennis Praet, left, to injury for three months, and manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted he considered bringing back academy graduate Dewsbury-Hall, who has been impressing in the Championship with the Hatters, winning their player of the month award for November and December.

However, while there was a recall clause in his loan contract, the cut-off date had passed by the time Praet damaged a tendon in his hamstring at Stoke, meaning Dewsbury-Hall, below, left, will remain at Kenilworth Road for the full campaign. “Unfortunately his loan conditions mean that we can’t (recall him),” said Rodgers. “There was a date put in his loan agreement where he couldn’t be called back after that. We’ve passed that stage now. It was something

I did consider after the weekend, but the time had passed, so he will continue his development there and we’ll see where we’re at with him in the summer.

“We get good access to his work and to his games. I spoke to Nathan (Jones, Luton manager) a few weeks back, he’s been really pleased with him.

“That’s the whole idea. He’s not 17 or 18, he’s in his early twenties, so he needs to be out playing and getting games.

“He’s at a good level, at a really good club, with an excellent manager, who will help him develop. Nathan’s very pleased with him.”

With Praet injured, and with Dewsbury-Hall staying put, Hamza Choudhury, below, may now stick around.

He has been linked with a loan move to relegation-battlers West Brom, despite Rodgers having said he would prefer for Choudhury to move on permanently if he was to leave.

Now, Rodgers admits he may need to keep the 23-year-old at the King Power Stadium to ensure he has a squad to cope with the trials and tribulations of the second half of the campaign.

“It’s certainly something we have to look at,” Rodgers said on the possibility of Choudhury staying.

“We’re not in a rush to move Hamza out.

“We respect that there are players who are further away from playing and may want some game time. I get that and understand that.

“That’s something, because of how the guys are every day, I want to support and help that.

“But I also have to look after the squad and make sure we have the right bodies here to finish the job in a busy second half of the season for us.

“There have been enquiries for Hamza, but we’re not in any big rush until we see where the

squad is going to be at.”