It was a lot of touting about Leicester and their players missing for AFCON, injuries and sickness giving Brendan Rodgers selection problems.
But looking in the back mirror you would surely question the way Brendan Rodgers handled the future of Papy Mendy and also Dennis Praet, both doing their job more or less and with enough Premier League experience to have been solid covers this season. Both players were on the bench and unused subs for the FA Cup final vs. Chelsea.
The reason to leave out Mendy from the Premier League squad was simple, he was supposed to have joined Galatasary on loan, but his move never happened and he ended up in a strange situation.
He is the only Leicester player left in the AFCON helping his nation Senegal through to the quarter finals where they will play Equatorial Guinea. Mendy, despite only playing EFL Cup and U.23 football so far this season, is a trusted member of the Senegal team, doing the central midfield job in a team including stars such as Sadio Mane from Liverpool, Eduard Mendy from Chelsea and Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli.
Last season Papy Mendy was called on by Brendan Rodgers to do a job in midfield moving Wilfred Ndidi back to cover as a central defender and we all know this was a good match. Papy showed quality and Leicester managed to get into the top four with his presence.
A underrated player at a perfect age that Leicester offered a new contract in front of last season suddenly believing him and Praet both were no longer players to rate for first team starts. Both players do hold the quality Leicester are looking for and with Praet on his loan at Torino it would be obvious to include Papy Mendy in the selected 25 men squad to be drawn up after this January transfer window.
Mendy is at the moment central in a three men midfield playing alongside Idrissa Gana Gueye from PSG and Cheikhou Kouyate from Crystal Palace. This is a well balanced team in that midfield area and they could all the way with the quality this team posess.
Coach Aliou Cisse does not really bother much about Papy Mendy being without any real playing time and the Leicester midfielder is just pushing on as his club situation looks strange but hopefully Brendan Rodgers will sort out a place in the squad for the rest of the season.
Getting Mendy back in would be like signing a new player of great quality. Brendan Rodgers offered Mendy a new deal in front of last season ending in July 2023. Strange to see how players are judged by the manager and TCF believe Mendy should be back in the Leicester squad.
Papy Mendy was signed by Claudio Ranieri in the summer of 2016, been out on loan with his former club Nice and also been heavily troubled with injuries during his spell. He has so far played 65 PL games and made his Senegal debut in 2021 building to date 10 caps.
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