Coventry City boost as Leicester suffer injury blow ahead of big Championship opener
Coventry City opposition injury news from CoventryLive as Leicester set to be without £7.5m summer signing at the King Power Stadium on Sunday
Coventry City have been handed a boost with the news that Leicester have suffered a potentially significant injury blow ahead of Sunday’s big Championship opener at the King Power Stadium.
The Foxes’ big £7.5million summer signing Conor Coady has failed to recover from a foot injury with the defender potentially out for more than a few weeks.
The influential 30-year-old limped off during a behind-closed-doors friendly against OH Leuven over a fortnight ago and has not trained since. But while he definitely won’t make his competitive debut against the Sky Blues this weekend, nor in the matches that follow, the full extent of his problem is still to be determined.
That is a big blow to new manager Enzo Maresca, who had been shaping his team around the England international. The former Wolves man is already a part of the leadership group at the club and a contender for the captaincy.
Maresca said at his press conference on Friday afternoon: “Unfortunately Coady is not with us and probably won’t be with us on Sunday and for the next games. We don’t know (how long he will be out for).
“We are still waiting to see how he improves. Then we can finally have an idea about the time. That’s why we don’t know the timing, because they are still analysing the situation.”
He added: “Since day one, we build the idea around new players and Conor was one of them. Since day one, we build the idea about Conor being there. It’s a big shame.
“Not only because he’s a good player and because since day one has been building the idea with us, but also because he’s a leader and you can hear his voice, he’s talking with everybody. At the end, when you have these kinds of players on the pitch, it’s a boost for the manager and the rest of the team-mates.”
There is better news for Leicester, however, that Jamie Vardy, Dennis Praet, and Wout Faes, who all missed the final pre-season friendly against Liverpool in Singapore last Sunday, are fit to take on Mark Robins’ men. That means that as well as Coady, the home side have just Victor Kristiansen and Alex Smithies out through injury.
Maresca added: “Dennis is fit, Wout is fit, Jamie is fit, Victor is not fit. He’s injured, but he could be with us in the next days. It’s not something that is important.”
