Leicester

Nick Mashiter
BBC Sport Football News Reporter

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Leicester goalkeeper Jakub Stolarczyk has been ruled out for up to six months with a serious ankle injury.

The 23-year-old suffered the injury in training and has undergone surgery which will keep him sidelined until next year.

Stolarczyk made nine appearances for the Foxes in all competitions last season having previously had loan spells at Dunfermline, Fleetwood and Hartlepool.

"It’s really unfortunate - he had a very innocuous injury in training and it’s ended up being really serious," said boss Steve Cooper. "He’s had to have an operation on his ankle and he’s going to be out for a long time.

"It couldn’t be any more bad luck. He’s found himself in a tough situation. He did it on the day we flew to Evian. I feel for the boy. I’ve heard some really good things about him, and how talented he is.

"The club is very well set up in terms of how they support players. We’ll get him back as quickly as possible. I think it will be around six months."

It changes the goalkeeping situation at the King Power Stadium as Danny Ward and Daniel Iversen had been expected to leave this summer.

Ward played 90 minutes in Tuesday's 2-1 win at Shrewsbury and could now stay as back up to Mads Hermansen.

Derby are interested in Iversen but the clubs remain apart on their valuation of the 27-year-old.

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Leicester City's new away kit is now available after being unveiled on Tuesday.

The black shirt, with gold and pink splashes was worn in the club's pre-season victory against Shrewsbury Town.

The kit will be worn in the Foxes Premier League away games and the women's Super League fixtures.

What do you make of it? - let us know, external

Leicester opened their pre-season campaign with victory at League One Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday night.

What did you learn from the game?

Let us know here, external

BBC Radio Leicester's When You're Smiling offers a first chat with Steve Cooper as he gives his reaction to City's win at Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

Plus, analysis from ex-Foxes striker Matty Fryatt and analyst Dominic Wells.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

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It isn't quiet in one specific part of the major football clubs - the acquisitions department.

I know that because I was once the acquisitions department - well me and the manager mostly. While each player returned from holidays like a bronzed Adonis, we were cooped up in a small darkened room, beavering the daylight hours away like vampires.

There is plenty of guesswork in the media and a fair bit of leaking from the players and their people, but the clubs usually try to keep their transfer moves as quiet as possible.

If word gets out that a player is available, they know they might lose him to another club or else the price will increase as a bidding war erupts.

‌These are high stakes games and many are impressed by those who gamble and go early.

Manchester City have always been good enough, and let's be honest wealthy enough, to be able to do this well.

The problem is that some clubs are trying to do the same thing and are ending up paying top dollar for less able players, because they haven't done their due diligence in the market.

This is another area where the use of data, or maybe over-reliance on pure data, comes into play - feed all of the numbers in, let the technology do the crunching, and out comes the answer.

The problem is that everyone else has got the same or similar data.

What is needed, of course, is good human knowledge and the vision to aid the use of the information they have got. This is why these departments should be busy just now, they shouldn't just be doing deals which are admittedly very complex legal and financial documents these days.

Even more time should be spent on ensuring the new £75m player hasn't got a hidden weakness in his game or even the odd skeleton in his closet.

Pat Nevin was writing for the BBC Football Extra Newsletter

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On the latest episode of the When You're Smiling Podcast, former Leicester winger Matt Piper discusses Steve Cooper, who will take charge of his first game in front of fans as Foxes boss on Tuesday against Shrewsbury:

"[The expectations for the match] will be for the players to show an understanding of what he's trying to get across to them in training. He won't be saying 'lets just get the win regardless', he won't want to see that. Winning is important but it's about the system.

"Are the players taking on board what he's trying to coach and is he seeing evidence of that? I think he will. From what I understand, he's a very clear communicator and all the players that have played under him previously have loved playing under him.

"He's going to be a breath of fresh air for some of the players. Enzo [Maresca] was great, but when you have a coach like Enzo, he wants you to stick to what he's asking you so rigidly. Someone like Steve Cooper will encourage that players having more freedom.

"Morgan Gibbs-White loved playing in a Steve Cooper team because he let him express himself and move all over the pitch. I think that will be an added benefit this season, the shackles will be taken off a bit.

Listen to the full episode here

Listen to full match commentary of Leicester's friendly on BBC Sounds

The latest episode of the When You're Smiling podcast by BBC Radio Leicester has landed.

Owynn Palmer-Atkin is joined by former Leicester winger Matt Piper and BBC World service's John Bennett to discuss the Foxes' next pre-season match against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday.

Listen to the episode on BBC Sounds here