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Caglar Soyuncu boost for Leicester with injury ‘not as bad as first feared’

The Turkey international had missed Leicester’s previous 10 matches with a groin injury.

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Caglar Soyuncu’s injury is not as bad as first feared after the defender lasted just 17 minutes of his Leicester comeback.

The 24-year-old was forced off in Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League defeat at Zorya Luhansk – his first game since recovering from a groin issue.

He had missed 10 matches since suffering the problem on international duty with Turkey but aggravated the injury in Ukraine.

Soyuncu has had a scan ahead of Sunday’s Premier League trip to Sheffield United and boss Brendan Rodgers is relieved there appears to be no long-term damage.

He said: “It’s not as bad as first feared, there was a little bit of fright on the pitch which was very slippy with the conditions. He had a slight pull when he was sprinting and we’ll have a look at that.

“He feels fine in himself, he has done some tests and feels OK but we just need to gauge that in the next 24 hours.”

Ricardo Pereira will also be monitored after tweaking his groin early in the game as he returned for the first time since March after a cruciate knee ligament injury and looks unlikely to feature at Bramall Lane.

“Ricky was due to play about 75 minutes but we brought him off at half-time. Very early on he pushed off and may have a slight strain in his groin,” said Rodgers.

“We’re waiting on the scan for that. It’s nothing too serious because he played on for the remainder of the half.”

Wes Morgan came off with a back problem while Timothy Castagne (hamstring) is not yet fit although Daniel Amartey is available after a thigh injury.

Leicester missed the chance to win Group G after Allahyar Sayyadmanesh’s late winner but have already reached the last 32.

Rodgers added: “It was obviously a disappointing one to lose but we knew we had qualified and it was always going to be a game where we could bring in some of the players who had been out for a period of time.

“I didn’t think we deserved to lose. We’re still top of the group and have a chance to finish top next week (against AEK Athens).”

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