Steve Cooper will be spending every waking hour devising a plan to help Leicester City beat Southampton in the Premier League on Saturday.
Leicester City finally recorded a first league win of the season as they beat Bournemouth 1-0 at the King Power in the last game before the international break.
Steve Cooper has been working with a reduced squad during the break with 12 Leicester players called up to represent their respective nations all over the globe.
The Foxes have players playing in Europe, Africa and South America and Cooper will be hoping each of the dozen players absent will return fit and ready to face Southampton.
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Facundo Buonanotte to return late to Leicester City
Facundo Buonanotte has scored two and assisted two since arriving at Leicester on a season-long loan from Brighton, including the winner against Bournemouth.
The 19-year-old has dazzled with his footwork and creativity and earned a call-up to the Argentina senior side for World Cup 2026 qualifiers against Venezuela and Boliva.
Buonanotte did not feature in the first of those games as Argentina drew 1-1 against Venezuela but the Bolivia match is scheduled to be played at 1am BST on Wednesday.
Leicester face Southampton at 3pm on Saturday and it is a 12 hour flight from Argentina to the UK, meaning Buonanotte is unlikely to report to Leicester until Friday.
Steve Cooper may have to leave Buonanotte out against Southampton
Clearly in normal circumstances Buonanotte would be one of the first names on Cooper’s teamsheet.
However, when you factor in the travelling, jet lag and lack of time to prepare for what is a huge game against Southampton, it is difficult to see how Buonanotte could start.
Provided he is fit, Cooper will likely still find a place for the youngster in the squad in a hope he can still make an impact from the bench if needed.
This could mean we see one of Abdul Fatawu, Jordan Ayew or Bobby De Cordova-Reid come into the side, with Cooper having a big call to make on Buonanotte’s replacement.