Benkovic is handed a European lifeline

CROATIAN DEFENDER GIVEN THE NOD BY RODGERS BECAUSE OF CITY’S CENTRE-HALVES INJURY CRISIS

LEICESTER City’s Europa League squad has been named and the surprises within it lead to questions and conclusions.

Here are four things we picked out.

Concern over centre-backs

Filip Benkovic’s inclusion suggests the club have continued concerns over their centre-back injury situation.

Benkovic, pictured, was the surprise name on the 24-man list, published on Monday, the Croatian handed a spot ahead of the injured Wesley Fofana and James Justin, and ahead of midfielder Papy Mendy.

Benkovic, while involved in preseason, has not played a competitive game at City since January 2020 and did not appear to have a future at the club, at least not in the short term.

This time last year, Brendan Rodgers said he was not good enough for the Premier League, and he has only played 70 minutes of competitive football since.

It may be that Rodgers feels Benkovic is more suited to European games, which, cliched as it may sound, are likely to be more technical than physical.

The manager has previously raved about Benkovic’s “sensational” performance for Celtic against RB Leipzig in the competition.

City would normally have enough central defenders in the squad to be well covered in that area – that’s if they were fit.

Daniel Amartey and Caglar Soyuncu have played every game so far this season with Jonny Evans still battling to overcome the foot pain that has restricted him since the end of last season, while new signing Jannik Vestergaard is recovering after overstretching his knee in training.

While the injured duo have been due back in full training, Rodgers has cast doubt over their fitness, saying that their limited time on the training pitches means it’s not simply a case of overcoming their issues, but also re-finding their stamina.

In that case, one minor problem for Soyuncu or Amartey could put City in a desperate situation.

Now, at least City have Benkovic to provide a solution.

Lessons learned on risking injured players

Justin was perhaps a surprise absentee given the optimistic predictions for his return.

Rodgers has been impressed with the full-back’s commitment and positivity during his recovery from an ACL tear, while the medical and sports science staff are pleased with his progress, prompting an October return to training to be pencilled in.

He then may have been fit for the final two group matches at the end of November and beginning of December, which may have been good games to ease him in should the group be looking rosy for City. But the flashbacks of Zorya Luhansk, where Ricardo Pereira and Soyuncu both picked up injuries in their comeback games, may mean City are taking a more cautious approach with Justin. Although it’s not likely that this season’s final Europa League group away trip, to Napoli, will be played on a frozen pitch as was the case in Ukraine, City won’t want to risk rushing Justin into action. Ricardo’s return has shown it can take over a year to first get over an ACL injury and then get back to peak form. Maybe playing Europa League and Premier League games was too much too soon for the Portuguese, and with Justin, City may look to give him more time with the Under-23s.

City going for glory

Leaving Justin out in favour of players who are fit and ready to compete may also suggest a slight change in approach to the competition. City will have to rotate players given the heavy schedule, but it might be that from time to time, the top players are saved for Europa League matches.

Rodgers has said City had to prioritise the Premier League over the Europa League last season, but will that be the same this year?

“We want to challenge in every competition,” he said last month.

“We were in a good position in it last year, but then we had a spell where we had a number of injured players and the reality was we looked to prioritise the league over the Europa League at that time.

“I’m hoping that we can have a squad that can stay injury-free and we can have that bit of luck with injuries that allows us to challenge in every competition.

“That’s something we’ve done since I’ve been here, whether it’s the League Cup, the Premier League, or the FA Cup, we’ve always tried to be really competitive and we will look to do that in the Europa League as well.”

Premier League squad decision

With fewer restrictions on the Premier League squad, only one player has to be cut, rather than the three left out in Europe.

However, the obvious decision is no longer so. Benkovic had seemed most surplus to requirements and so seemed likeliest to miss out, but now he has been included in the Europa League squad, the decision becomes difficult again.

Fofana would be on the Under-21 list in the Premier League anyway, so it’s not a case of leaving him out and keeping everybody else in.

City could leave Justin out and then include him again in January, albeit that will prevent him from playing games at the end of December, when he is more than likely to be ready.

If they leave out Mendy again, City have a player in their squad who can only feature in League Cup matches between now and the new year.

While if they leave Benkovic out, they risk being short on centre-back cover.

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