Why Wout Faes and Harry Souttar were left out of the Leicester City squad

Wout Faes was injured in his first training session at Leicester City, but that will not stop him from traveling to the club’s camp in Germany.

City return to Europe this week to continue their pre-season preparations, with a behind-closed-doors match to be played in midweek, before taking on Bundesliga side Augsburg next Saturday. Faes is expected to be involved despite his absence at Chesterfield for Friday’s friendly with Palermo.

The Belgium defender was one of five internationals to return to pre-season training at Seagrave last Monday, with the other four – Mads Hermansen, Jannik Vestergaard, Victor Kristiansen and Bobby De Cordova-Reid – all featuring in the 1-0 defeat in front of the team. italian outfit. Manager Steve Cooper revealed after the game that Faes injured his toe immediately after returning from holiday.

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He wasn’t the only central defender missing from the Palermo match. Harry Souttar was also left out of the squad and Cooper said that was because of the number of centre-backs he had to choose from.

The 23-man squad selected by Cooper at Chesterfield had two players for each position, plus an extra goalkeeper. Conor Coady, Caleb Okoli, Vestergaard and Ben Nelson were preferred over Souttar as the centre-back four, pushing the Australia international further towards an exit. He has been linked with a loan move to Sheffield United.

Some of the young players who played in the first team were also left out. Instead, the likes of Wanya Marcal and Brandon Cover featured for the under-21s in their friendly against non-league Leamington.

“Wout had his first session back and had a shot in his toe that swelled up,” Cooper explained. “It’s nothing serious or long-term. Set it back a few days. Will definitely come to Germany. He seems annoyed. He was quick to tell me that he had no injuries.

“The other guys you mentioned, we’ve got a lot of centre-backs here at the moment so we’re dealing with that and then with the younger guys they’re players in terms of minutes because there’s under-21 games and chances of players getting their minutes elsewhere. It’s all part of a pre-season plan.”

With Faes expected to travel to Germany, City could be without just one player for the trip, with goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk out for six months following ankle surgery. Jamie Vardy’s inclusion remains in the balance after picking up a knock, with Cooper hoping to return for the Augsburg game or even after.

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