A Leicester City new boy has shown Steve Cooper that he should not start in Leicester City’s Premier League opener against Tottenham after his performance in the 3-0 defeat to RC Lens.
Leicester City‘s preparation for the Premier League has been far from perfect, with Steve Cooper overseeing three consecutive losses to end pre-season.
With the club losing manager Enzo Maresca early in the summer to Chelsea before Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall followed him for £30 million, Cooper was always going to have a huge job on his hands to keep the Foxes in the Premier League.
However, there have been some incomings to help with that task, with Facundo Buonanotte’s loan arrival from Brighton the latest of five summer signings.
Leicester were very poor against Lens, mustering just two shots as Patson Daka went off injured in the first-half to add to Cooper’s woes.
It was one of the new signings’ displays that was perhaps most concerning, though, with Caleb Okoli struggling alongside Wout Faes at the heart of the defence.
Caleb Okoli didn’t ‘inspire confidence’ in Leicester City loss to Lens
Given it was the final warm-up match ahead of the new season, it was anticipated that the side that started against Lens would be very similar to the one Cooper had in mind to face Tottenham next week.
Daka’s injury combined with a couple of below-par displays may well have changed that thinking though, as Leicester looked miles away from a team capable of competing in the Premier League in France.
Given their limited funds, Leicester spending £12 million to sign centre-back Okoli from Atalanta shows the club rate him highly and consider him a player who should go straight into the XI.
His performance against Lens did little to help his cause however, as the 23-year-old looked worryingly shaky.
This led to Leicestershire Live rating the Italian’s performance a four out of ten, commenting: “There was an alarming moment of miscommunication early on with Ndidi.
“If the ball is bouncing in the box, as the centre-back, he has to take charge. He improved, winning headers, but didn’t inspire confidence.”
Okoli gives Steve Cooper Leicester City defensive headache ahead of Tottenham
Cooper has a decision to make in the centre of his defence ahead of welcoming Tottenham to the King Power on Monday 19th August.
Faes is the obvious starter of the central defensive options and Conor Coady has been a feature of pre-season, often wearing the captain’s armband since Cooper’s arrival.
Leicester have suffered a real blow as far as Coady is concerned, with the experienced defender now set to be out for a month having limped out of training on Tuesday.
That leaves just Faes, Okoli and Jannik Vestergaard as senior central defensive options for the start of the season.
With Okoli struggling against Lens, Cooper may bring Vestergaard in to reprise his partnership with Faes from last season.
Cooper will hope to have Coady back as soon as possible, with his leadership likely to play a key role in Leicester’s survival chances this season.
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