Steve Cooper is having to prepare for next weekend’s trip to Southampton without a number of his Leicester City players.
That is because 12 Leicester City players have been called up to represent their respective national sides in the current international break.
Facundo Buonanotte is perhaps the most notable of these as the Brighton loanee’s impressive form under Steve Cooper has been rewarded with a call-up to the Argentina senior side.
The likes of Jordan Ayew, Bilal El Khannouss and Wout Faes all have important matches to navigate before their attention can turn to Southampton and Cooper will be hoping all of Leicester‘s international stars return unscathed.
Leicester City defender Jannik Vestergaard impresses for Denmark
One player perhaps surprisingly on international duty is Jannik Vestergaard.
The 32-year-old has not featured for Leicester since starting in the 2-1 defeat against Fulham in the second game of the season and has been out with an injury for the past month.
Despite that, Vestergaard was called up for Denmark’s UEFA Nations League clashes with Spain and Switzerland alongside club teammates Mads Hermansen and Victor Kristiansen.
Vestergaard and Kristiansen both started the 1-0 defeat against Spain on Saturday and the former left the Danish media impressed.
EkstraBladet rated Vestergaard’s display a seven out of ten, commenting: “Leicester’s beacon has played alongside six different stoppers this year and maintained a high level.
“Again, he radiated calm and was a bit of a powerhouse when it came to clearing balls. And he often had to.
Tipsbladet scored him a three out of six in their unconventional ratings and said: “The leader in the Danish defence, where he was central and controlled the aerial game, while he also distributed the play well.
“His lack of speed did not become a problem, as he did not have to go into running duels with Lamine Yamal, but was instead laid up by Morata.
“Vestergaard’s effort is extra impressive when you remember that he has been out for a month.”
Vestergaard will have to wait for Leicester City chance
Vestergaard’s return to action will have pleased Cooper, but it may be a while until the towering Dane gets another opportunity to impress in the Premier League.
Even prior to sustaining the injury that has kept him out recently, Vestergaard had lost his place to summer signing Caleb Okoli and Cooper has stuck with the pairing of Okoli and Faes ever since.
The partnership earned Leicester’s first Premier League clean sheet of the season last time out as the Foxes beat Bournemouth 1-0 and should continue for the foreseeable future.