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Defensive dilemma: Why Rodgers must turn to this player to replace Evans – opinion

Jonny Evans clutches his wrought calf muscle in agony; his whole body seizing up in immense cramp around the hour mark in the game against Brighton and Hove Albion.

“He couldn’t move,” explained Brendan Rodgers after the game. “He’d only had light sessions on Thursday and Friday, so he’s done great to play as much as he has.”

The stalwart Northern Irish defender, who has started every game this season in a formidable partnership alongside the revelationary Çağlar Söyüncü, had spent the week in hospital due to serious stomach pains – stopping him from training fully leading up to the game.

The astute and experienced Wes Morgan was Evans’ replacement; producing a vintage block late in the game, and is the obvious choice to act as Evans’ replacement for the games against Everton and Watford if the Irishman isn’t fit. But, with upcoming home fixtures against very out-of-form teams, the sporadic calls for Rodgers to integrate Croatian prospect Filip Benković into the squad could be on the horizon.

So which man should be tasked to fill that Evans-shaped void and keep the best defence in the league completely airtight? And is it worth taking a punt on a lad who’s only made four U23s appearances so far this season?

‘Captain Morgan’ is the Leicester City populous’ first choice as Evans’ understudy. The veteran 35-year-old Premier League-winning skipper would be close to a like-for-like replacement for the Foxes, playing the role of the brutish no-nonsense experienced defender that complements 23-year-old Söyüncü just as well, and is able to adapt to Rodgers’ malleable 4-1-4-1 formation with ease – being adept enough to anchor to Ndidi in defence when the team rotate to a 5-3-2 and Söyüncü can roam further up the pitch.

However, especially at 35, Morgan is far less agile than Evans; putting a lot of pressure on his Turkish partner to attempt to clean up and deal with counter-attacks – especially against the likes of Richarlison this Saturday.

On the other side, a chorus of optimistic and somewhat daring calls for 22-year-old Filip Benković to be given a short stint in the side would be more than justified as Foxes fans search for a Croatian clone of Söyüncü.

Whilst the young one-cap international has only made youth appearances this season, his time at Dinamo Zagreb and loan stint at Celtic showed his prowess on the ball for a centre-half, similar to his Turkish counterpart, with impressive passing ability and comfort on the ball. As for the grittier side of defending, the young Croat makes slide tackles look like an art form; making him capable of dealing with fast attacks, unlike an aging Morgan.

Benković’s lack of experience and playtime almost certainly limits him to the bench for the fixtures that Evans misses. Yet whilst deploying two youthful centre-backs against Everton could represent a rather extravagant gamble by Rodgers, it’s hard to deny that integrating the youngster into quite a limited defensive roster might be all too appealing for the Scotsman at the King Power.

Harry Robinson

A 19-year-old journalism student at the University of Sheffield, Harry has been writing and interviewing sports personalities since the age of 15. He has interviewed the likes of Roberto Martinez, Kevin Davies and Bryan Robson and has been writing for 90MAAT since June 2018.

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