The full-back is back in action after missing the final six months of last season due to an Achilles rupture, although he has yet to play a Championship game under the new management.
Enzo Maresca has insisted that James Justin will be an important part of his Leicester City team, even as the full-back awaits his first Championship start of the season.
The England international has started both of the Carabao Cup ties at Burton and Tranmere and got his first outing in the league at Rotherham, playing the final few minutes, but he has been an unused substitute for the other four Championship fixtures.
Fully-fit again after an Achilles rupture kept him out for the final six months of last term, it was expected that Justin would have a key role to play in the Championship, and Maresca has said he will, even if he hasn’t had the game-time to show it yet.
“The only thing I can say is that I love JJ,” Maresca said. “The way he works, the way he is, I really love JJ. He is going to help us 100 per cent. Now he is not playing but I am sure he is going to play a lot of games with us.
“With Hamza (Choudhury), they work very well. These players are going to stay. We need them. We need JJ, we need Hamza, we need these types of players.
“JJ can play full-back when we use full-backs up and down, if that happens. But also when we build three at the back on the right side, and we use him sometimes going inside. He’s learning and improving a lot. It’s a journey.”
Justin does appear to be Maresca’s first-choice back-up for the defensive trio, and so he would be a beneficiary if Jannik Vestergaard was to leave for Anderlecht before the transfer window deadline in Belgium on Wednesday night, especially while Conor Coady is out injured.
But while the manager sees his best role as being on the right side, Justin himself prefers to play on the left. It was at left-back where he impressed at Luton before getting his move to City in 2019. The ultimate aim is promotion though, with Burnley’s achievements last season providing a blueprint for City.
“I prefer playing on the left, but I’m not picky,” he told the Sun last month. “I just get on with my job. It’s been good and intense. The manager has installed a lot of his philosophies. It’s going to take time to get everything perfect.
“We’ve worked on how we build up. A lot of teams build with four at the back as standard or three with two wing-backs. We’re changing that and adopting what City have done in moving John Stones into midfield. Brighton also use a similar concept, but we’re looking to put our own spin on things.
“It was amazing what (Burnley) achieved and hopefully we can be similar. (Vincent) Kompany said when he arrived at Burnley they already had good ideas and a foundation at the club, and we also have that at Leicester. He showed what Burnley could do if they had confidence to play that way.”
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