What we spotted at Seagrave
YOUNGSTERS JOIN FIRST TEAM STARS ON RETURN TO TRAINING
LEICESTER City’s pre-season is officially under way as players returned to the club’s Seagrave training base yesterday.
On the first day of what will be a busy six weeks leading up the opening Premier League fixture against Brentford, here is what we spotted.
Who was present (and who wasn’t)
As expected, the first group back were those who were not called up to represent their countries in early June, but that did not mean there was a shortage of big names.
James Maddison, Jamie Vardy, Harvey Barnes, Kiernan DewsburyHall, Ricardo Pereira, Marc Albrighton, Hamza Choudhury, Ayoze Perez and Boubakary Soumare were all there among the senior contingent.
Of those not on international duty, Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho were the two not present, although they attended the wedding of a friend over the weekend.
The Nigerian pair should be back in training soon, while the international players will have staggered arrival dates over the next few weeks.
Iversen straight back in
There was one international player present at Seagrave in goalkeeper Daniel Iversen.
Despite representing Denmark at the start of the month – Iversen was an unused substitute as back-up to Kasper Schmeichel for their four Nations League games – he is already back in for training.
The final of those Denmark games was against Austria just two weeks ago, so it’s been a short break for the goalkeeper.
However, he did get time off earlier in May with the Championship season finishing earlier than the Premier League campaign, Iversen having been on loan at Preston North End.
Plenty of young players involved
With an incomplete first-team squad returning, there were plenty of youngsters filling out the group at Seagrave.
Many of those were expected to be involved, including those that spent periods out on loan last season.
Manager Brendan Rodgers was particularly keen to take a closer look at George Hirst this summer after his good goalscoring form for Portsmouth.
The big striker was there, alongside Callum Wright, Josh Eppiah, Khanya Leshabela, and Jakub Stolarczyk, who also spent time on loan last season.
The list of younger pros did not end there, with attacking midfielder Thanawat Suengchitthawon and winger Tawanda Maswanhise, who both featured in pre-season matches last summer, joining in with the first team.
A handful of Under-18s were also involved, including defender Tom Wilson-Brown and midfielder Brandon Cover.
Bertrand fighting to be fit
Experienced left-back Ryan Bertrand was also pictured back at Seagrave as he continues his recovery from a serious knee injury.
He was one of only two players, along with Ndidi, on the sidelines when the season ended, having not played since last December.
He was tasked with working through the summer to get himself ready, and he looks to be close to fitness.
He was able to join in with the work in the gym, but did not appear to feature when the players went out on to the pitches and started work with the ball at their feet.