(Reuters) – Leicester City striker and club top scorer Jamie Vardy faces a spell on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring against Liverpool, manager Brendan Rodgers said on Thursday.
The 34-year-old Vardy, who has nine league goals this season, played the full 90 minutes in Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Liverpool despite a hamstring issue that kept him out of the Boxing Day loss to Manchester City.
“Jamie will be out for the weekend and James Maddison should be fine. (For Vardy) it depends, it could be the next three to four weeks,” Rodgers told reporters ahead of Saturday’s home game against bottom side Norwich City.
“He wasn’t sure whether it was (in a challenge with Joel Matip) or he felt the pain then. He ran on and soldiered on, which he wanted to do. But the scan has shown up as that (a hamstring injury), so it could be three to four weeks.”
Rodgers was given a boost with winger Harvey Barnes back in training for the first time after missing the last three games in all competitions while Ryan Bertrand is due back next week.
Rodgers again said player welfare was an important issue that could not be ignored amid a demanding schedule and games being rearranged due to COVID-19 outbreaks but added that his pleas had fallen on deaf ears.
“We’ve had various meetings but the football doesn’t seem to come into it. It’s more about playing the games and what impact that has financially,” he said.
“We’re more interested in the physical and mental welfare of our players. I hope that will be taken into consideration in January when there are more demands on players. It wouldn’t seem right to then be looking to add more fixtures into that.”
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
