Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Harvey Barnes will be out of action for around six weeks after separating part of his patella.
Barnes went down clutching his knee just half the restart of Leicester's 3-1 defeat to Arsenal, after his leg buckled while stretching to control the ball. After receiving treatment on the field, his leg was heavily strapped and he was stretchered off.
After the game, Rodgers immediately spoke of the need for Barnes to undergo surgery, and he's now confirmed the severity of the injury and how long it will take him to recover.
"We’re hopeful that he’ll be going in for surgery tomorrow. Part of the patella is separated in the knee, that’s come away, so it’s just a repair job there and hopefully he can be back in six weeks," Rodgers told the club's official website.
"It is much better news that what we thought it could have been, especially after JJ’s (James Justin) injury, so that’s where we’re at with him. He’ll hopefully be close to playing by that stage. It’s just a clean up on the knee and working his way back and then hopefully it’ll be around about six weeks."
Barnes' injury not only rules him out at a crucial juncture of Leicester's season, with the race for Champions League qualification hotting up, he will also miss England's World Cup qualifying games against San Marino, Albania and Poland in March.
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There's also concerning news for Leicester regarding experienced central defender Jonny Evans. The Northern Irishman has been managing a calf problem, and after limping off against the Gunners, Rodgers confirmed that a scan is needed to determine the extent of the damage.
"Jonny’s from the old school, he’ll play through anything and everything to help out his team," Rodgers added. "It’s been an issue for a few weeks and, early in the game yesterday, it was aggravating it up to a point where, later on, he couldn’t continue. We’ll get a scan done on that today and see where he’s at."
Aside from Barnes and Evans, James Justin, James Maddison, Ayoze Perez, Dennis Praet and Wes Morgan are also out injured, leaving Leicester's first team squad somewhat depleted.
What should I do in FPL?
There's every chance if you're a fantasy football player that Harvey Barnes is either in your team, or you've been thinking about drafting him in after his recent good form.
Evidently, that idea needs to go on the back-burner, so it's time to come up with an adequate replacement. In terms of similar value for money, Arsenal's Bukayo Saka is in superb form, while there's also a case to be made for Ilkay Gundogan or Phil Foden to continue receiving your backing - though be mindful of blank game weeks coming up for Manchester City.
The prime candidate for your thinking should be Leeds winger Raphinha, who is not only an absolute steal price wise, appears to be influencing games more and more. Crucially, Leeds don't have any week's off coming - so he could be ideal to replace Barnes.
Source: 90min
