Leicester suffer huge blow ahead of new season with Ricardo Pereira out for SIX MONTHS after rupturing Achilles

LEICESTER have suffered a major injury blow after it was revealed Ricardo Pereira would be out for SIX MONTHS.

Pereira, 28, was in line to start for Leicester when they host Brentford on Sunday but his injury will now see him miss most of the upcoming season.

The Portuguese full-back in Leicester’s final pre-season game against Sevilla.

Pereira had surgery on the injury on Thursday, but the six months he will be sidelined for will undoubtedly cripple Brendan Rodgers side.

The Foxes are the only team to have not signed a single player despite the new season kicking off with Arsenal’s visit to Crystal Palace this evening.

In addition, Leicester will also be without winger Harvey Barnes for a number of weeks after he picked up a knee injury in the same fixture.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Leicester boss Rodgers said: “Well it was looking really good but unfortunately we picked up a couple of injuries in our last game against Sevilla.

“Sadly, Pereira will be out for six months with a ruptured achilles which is just such a shame because a lot of our game ideas over the course of the summer came from our full-backs and him in particular.

“It’s a massive blow to him but he’s gone through his operation last night and he’ll get up again and get strong and come back better i’m sure.

“Harvey (Barnes) came off too. We didn’t think it was too bad at the time but he may be out for a few more weeks with his knee.

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“But apart from that the squad is ok.”

Rodgers described Pereira’s recent injury history as “so unfortunate,” as he has struggled for game time due to a number of setbacks.

Last season he managed just 14 Premier League games as a hamstring injury hampered him.

The 2020/21 season saw Pereira suffer a cruciate ligament rupture, which meant he couldn’t play his first game of the season until January.

Leicester have seen a serious post-Covid hangover hamper their ability to bring in recruits, while a number of stars could depart with clubs circling try and pry players away.

Youri Tielemans and James Maddison are among them, with interest from Arsenal and Newcastle respectively.

Arsenal are understood to be weighing up a £30m bid for Tielemans.

Meanwhile, Maddison has seen a £45m bid for his services rejected as it sits well below the £60m valuation the club have put on the playmakers head.

French centre-back Wesley Fofana is also being courted by Chelsea, with The Blues tabling an opening offer of £63m despite being quoted at least £84m for him.

Rodgers has also lost captain Kasper Schmeichel after he completed a shock transfer to Nice earlier this week.