Shakespeare clarifies status of Huth, Mahrez - Mendy still unclear

Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare has this morning (Hong Kong time) presented some new facts to help clear the murky situations surrounding a couple of the Foxes’ regulars.

Firstly, Robert Huth, who appeared to miss the preseason tour to Austria and was left out of the squad for the Premier League Asia trophy, has been officially ruled out with an ankle injury.

While an injury was suspected, there was some confusion as the club had earlier stated that all players except Nampalys Mendy had returned fit. This was indeed the case, but the German defender picked up an injury very early in the training process and has had to have surgery. Fortunately the procedure went very well, but Huth is still likely to about for six to eight weeks, ruling him out for the start of the season.

The situation around Riyad Mahrez was also clarified, although this time contradicting previous reports. Despite what some terrible, disreputable blogs may be suggesting, the manager today reaffirmed that there have still been no bids from anyone for the tricky winger.

Outgoings are inevitable at any football club but until you actually get bids for your players, there is no decision to make - Shakespeare, from the Leicester Mercury

This is not exactly great news. He wants to move on, and the team sounds very happy to allow that, but if no one is interested in taking him, then we’ll either have two unhappy players on our hands (including Demarai Gray), or will have to settle for selling him cheaply.

Unfortunately, there also appears to have been no update on the whereabouts of Mendy. As mentioned above, he was reported as still dealing with a slight injury on his return, but was also training with the rest of the squad in Austria. Despite that, he has been omitted from their squad this week, with no reason provided (that I can find, at least).

Like Mahrez, they do seem happy to move on without him, though they apparently rejected a loan bid for him last week. Today a lot of sites are reporting that, after failing on other targets, Bordeaux are now turning their attention back to the french midfielder and a permanent transfer back to France looks a strong possibility.

I make that 1) bad news, 2) bad news and 3) no news (which is bad news if we’re trying to sell). Other than that, it’s been a good day so far. Unless you count the monsoon we may have to play in tomorrow.