Soyuncu’s injury not as bad as first feared

CAGLAR Soyuncu’s injury is not as bad as first feared, but Ricardo Pereira suffered a groin strain on Thursday night that will prevent him from making his Premier League return against Sheffield United, writes Jordan Blackwell.

Soyuncu and Ricardo were two of three City players, alongside Wilfred Ndidi, to make their comebacks from long-term issues against Zorya Luhansk, but the Turkish centre-back was substituted just 15 minutes in after pulling up, while Ricardo was withdrawn at half-time.

“Ricky just had a slight issue,” Rodgers said. “He was due to play 75 minutes but we brought him off at half-time. Very early in the game, he went to push off, and he may have just had a slight strain in his groin area because the pitch was very slippy.

“We just need to assess that. We’re waiting on the scan for that. But it’s nothing too serious because he played for the remainder of the half.”

But the update on Soyuncu’s groin injury was more optimistic.

“It’s not as bad as first feared,” said Rodgers. “He’s had a scan. He feels fine in himself, he’s done some tests and feels okay. We’ll just need to gauge that over the next 24 hours.”

Meanwhile, Timothy Castagne is still not fit to return, while Wes Morgan is unlikely to make the trip to Sheffield in order to rest his back. But Ndidi could be included in a Premier League matchday squad for the first time since September.