Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Wesley Fofana will be sidelined for the rest of the year after his horrific leg break against Villarreal.

The Frenchman suffered the horrendous injury after a reckless challenge from Fernando Nino. Rodgers has now confirmed that the Frenchman has a long road to recovery.

Speaking after the 1-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City, Rodgers said that the centre-back will have an operation on Monday and will recover at the club.

In his interview, he also confirmed that Fofana will miss a vast chunk of the 2021/22 season. He was hopeful over his return at some time next year.

He said: “He will play in 2022 at some time. Unfortunately, the ligament damage is quite bad. He is in great spirits – he wants to stay here in and be around his teammates.”

“Sometimes players want to go back to their country, but he is staying here. He has an operation on Monday and his recovery will start there.”

Sportslens view:

Fofana’s absence will be a bitter blow for the Foxes as he was instrumental in their pursuit of Champions League football last season.

The club are now facing a central defensive crisis with Jonny Evans still nursing a heel injury sustained in the final weeks of last season.

He is unlikely to return until September. This has left the Foxes with just two specialist centre-backs in Caglar Soyuncu and Filip Benkovic.

Benkovic has yet to make his debut. Rodgers decided to play Daniel Amartey as the makeshift centre-back for the Shield game.

The Foxes were already eyeing a new central defender and may now look for more than one recruit. One of them could arrive on loan.

It has recently been claimed that they are interested in signing Burnley’s James Tarkowski and West Ham United’s Issa Diop before the deadline.

Stats from Transfermarkt.com

Read: West Ham United make opening bid for Rennes defender Nayef Aguerd.