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Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that finding a new centre-back is something of an urgent issue for Leicester City – but warned against signing someone “for the sake of it”.

Leicester are yet to make a signing since the January transfer window opened. However, there are areas of their squad they need to address. The first half of the season did not go as well as expected for them.

Therefore, it would be beneficial to bolster their ranks while the opportunity is there. And it is not just Rodgers who knows the obvious priority.

Leicester could do with adding another defender after navigating the whole season so far without Wesley Fofana and parts of it without Jonny Evans. In fact, the latter should be absent until April due to a hamstring issue.

Caglar Soyuncu has also been on the treatment tables of late. Therefore, in their most recent game, Hamza Choudhury had to drop into defence alongside Jannik Vestergaard.

Rodgers praised the way Choudhury went about it, but it would be useful for the club to find a natural defender to plug the gap if they can.

However, the Northern Irish coach does not think they should be taking just anyone. Still, he confesses it is a “pressing” problem for them to resolve if they can.

“It’s a difficult one for us,” said Rodgers. “We have a pressing need to get a player at the back.

“It’s important to get the right profile. It can’t be someone just for the sake of it; it has to be someone who can be the right player for us.

“Financially, for us we’re not like other clubs that can spend the money. It will be difficult for a lot of clubs.

“The club have always been supportive and if we can get a player in, they will do that. There is a need now and that’s something we’re looking at.”

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Rodgers welcomes back returning faces

In other positions, meanwhile, the injury situation is getting better for Leicester. Rodgers listed five players who will be back in contention for their trip to face Burnley on Saturday.

One of them is James Justin, who has been out since February 2021 with a serious knee injury.

“We’ve got a number of players returning, so we are in a much better place,” said Rodgers.

“Patson Daka, Luke Thomas, Caglar Soyuncu, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, and James Justin, which is great news for us. Maybe not to start [Justin], but he’s back into the squad again.

“He’s looked very strong in training and we feel that he can be drip-fed into the games. We’ll take a final look at him tomorrow and get the reaction from him.

“To have him back is huge. If we get some players like him, we can have a big second part of the season. It’s going to take him time being out so long.

“But over the course of the second half of the season, I’m sure he’ll get back to his level.”

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