Conor Coady’s latest updates: Defender speaks out on injury issues and Leicester return date closing in
The ex-England international defender was a summer signing for Leicester, but he is so far yet to make an appearance
Leicester City’s rebuild job has seen them splash some cash this summer, but it hasn’t made them immune to losing matches.
The Foxes suffered their first league defeat of the 2023-24 season last week when Hull City defeated them 1-0 at the King Power Stadium, allowing both Preston North End and Ipswich Town to leapfrog them in the Championship standings.
That followed a hectic deadline day where just one new face arrived in the form of Tom Cannon, but several individuals did not depart as perhaps expected with both Wilfred Ndidi and Patson Daka remaining as City players.
City made some big-money signings this summer, with one of the more expensive ones being that of Conor Coady.
| Leicester City – 2023/24 Signings | ||
|---|---|---|
| Player Name | Signed From | Loan/Permanent |
| Harry Winks | Tottenham | Permanent |
| Tom Cannon | Everton | Permanent |
| Conor Coady | Wolves | Permanent |
| Stephy Mavididi | Montpellier | Permanent |
| Mads Hermansen | Brondby IF | Permanent |
| Yunus Akgun | Galatasaray | Loan |
| Cesare Casadei | Chelsea | Loan |
| Callum Doyle | Man City | Loan |
| Issahaku Fatawu | Sporting CP | Loan |
An initial £7.5 million was paid to Wolves for the 30-year-old defender, but the 10-cap England international is yet to feature for his new club so far, owing to a broken foot that he picked up in pre-season training.
What has Conor Coady said about his injury problems?
Getting an injury so soon after arriving at the King Power Stadium was not ideal in the slighest, especially when it comes to trying to impress his new head coach Enzo Maresca, and Coady has spoken out recently about the setback he occurred in pre-season.
“I’m absolutely gutted to be honest,” Coady revealed on former England goalkeeper Ben Foster’s podcast recently.
“I’ve never been injured in my career. I’ve come to Leicester, brilliant, I loved the start, loving pre-season, feeling strong and then one day in training I was running and as I’ve turned to run backwards and receive a ball my foot’s cracked. I thought: ‘That’s a bit mad.’
“I was gutted because we were going to Thailand the next day as well. I had the scan the next morning and the doctor pulled me over when I had my suitcases ready to go, and he said: ‘Listen, you’re going to be out for a while.’
“When you’ve been at a club for a while and you’re participating, and you’ve shown what you can do, it’s not as bad. You’re gutted to get injured, of course, no matter what.
“But the club wanted to sign me, I couldn’t wait to get there, I was loving pre-season, I was loving what the gaffer was doing, he’s fantastic. The fact I got injured when I did, I had that feeling of letting people down, letting supporters down.”
Coady remained at the club’s training ground whilst the rest of the first-team squad jetted off to Asia for pre-season, and he has been stepping up his recovery week by week.
When is Conor Coady set to return from injury?
LeicestershireLive reported that Coady was due back into first-team training last week as he accelerated his recovery process, and he was captured by the club’s media team in ball work sessions.
Coady does not have an official return date though when it comes to actually making his debut for the Foxes, but there’s every chance that he could be involved in the 20-man matchday squad when the Foxes take on Southampton this Friday night at St Mary’s Stadium.
That will only happen though if he’s fit enough to take part, with Maresca perhaps deciding to ease him into action either with substitute appearances or giving Coady a bit longer to recover.
