Steve Cooper is preparing to oversee the second Leicester City friendly of pre-season as the Foxes are set to face Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night.
Having been appointed following Enzo Maresca’s surprise exit, Steve Cooper has had to get up to speed quickly with his Leicester City squad.
With a return to the Premier League on the horizon, Cooper welcomed his players back for pre-season before spending last week in Spain where they faced Villarreal in their first game of the Welshman’s rein.
Leicester won 2-1 thanks to goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi in a game that would have taught Cooper a lot about his new players.
With a trip to League One Shrewsbury Town, Cooper should give one player a last chance to prove he can step up to be a starter in the Premier League this season.
Daniel Iversen should be handed Leicester City chance against Shrewsbury Town
That player is goalkeeper Daniel Iversen.
Last season’s number one Mads Hermansen was impressive in his first season in English football but could be the subject of a bid from Chelsea as Maresca looks to take another Leicester player to Stamford Bridge after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
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Iversen has been at the club since leaving Denmark in 2016 but spent the second half of last season on loan at Stoke City after Maresca made it clear Hermansen was the undisputed number one.
However, with Leicester concerned about Maresca making a move for Hermansen, Iversen could be a ready-made replacement for Cooper and he deserves the chance to stake his claim against Shrewsbury.
The 27-year-old Dane played the second of the two 60 minute games against Villarreal on Saturday, with Danny Ward playing the first.
However, Cooper should give Iversen 90 minutes against Shrewsbury to stake his claim and allow the new manager to make his own mind up on whether the former Preston loanee could be the first-choice next season.
Iversen has earned plaudits during time on loan from Leicester City
He may have only played 17 games for Leicester – with 12 of these in the Premier League relegation season – but that does not mean Iversen is inexperienced.
The stopper has accumulated 188 senior appearances across his five loan spells to add to those 17 Leicester games.
A talented ‘keeper, it feels like a make or break summer for Iversen who could well seek a permanent exit if he does not receive assurances around a starting role for Leicester.
If Hermansen is to leave, then Iversen showed in his loan at Stoke last season he could be ready to fill the void left by his fellow countryman.
Speaking after Iversen made a number of fine saves to earn Stoke a draw with Preston in March, Potters boss Steven Schumacher was full of praise for the goalkeeper, commenting on one save in particular: “Huge, yeah. It’s what you need your goalie for.
“Daniel, we know, is a really good goalkeeper and in this run-in, at this stage of the season, the games are decided by small margins.
“A brilliant save from him and that gave us that little bit of energy that we might have needed to go down and get one from the other end.”