At Leicester City, Jannik Vestergaard is accomplishing the unthinkable as Conor Coady makes a comeback.
Before this season, the Danish defender had not participated in a league match for more than 18 months, but he is currently flourishing at the center of Enzo Maresca’s three-man defense.
Very few, if any, Leicester City fans would have predicted Jannik Vestergaard would have had the most touches of the ball in the first six Championship games if asked at the conclusion of last season who one of their present players would have had the most of.
In spite of this, the huge Dane has received more possession of the ball than any other City player thus far this season and more than every player in the division bar four. This is part of the club’s unlikely turnaround. Though the England international arrived as a vital player, it’s no longer so unlikely that his performance might keep Conor Coady out of the lineup. Coady’s absence hasn’t been as noticeable as it may have been after his foot injury.
Before the trip to Norwich, manager Enzo Maresca remarked, “They are so intelligent, both.” They are cognizant of the circumstances. Conor was overjoyed to be there when he eventually joined us. He must gradually recover in order to be healthy for the remainder of the season because the injury lasted a long time.
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Vestergaard had gone 18 months without taking the field for the team in a league match prior to this season. West Ham scored an injury-time equalizer during his most recent Premier League appearance as a replacement, while City lost at home to Tottenham after giving up two goals in extra time during his previous Premier League start.
Last summer and in January, City tried to sell Vestergaard, only for him to reject offers firstly on the grounds that he felt he had a future at the club, and then because he did not want to move overseas with his wife heavily pregnant. By the spring of this year, he had been banished to the Under-21s by Brendan Rodgers after an unauthorised interview with Danish media in which he said the manager had not explained why he was not in consideration for selection, an assessment Rodgers strongly disagreed with.
But the fresh eyes of Maresca and the injury to Coady opened the door for Vestergaard, and despite saying wanted to leave City in the week before the Championship began, he has played every minute so far. The five victories from the six games are the first five victories he has enjoyed when starting a league game for the club
