Brendan Rodgers Explains Europa League Squad Omission for Leicester Trio

Brendan Rodgers has explained why he left Daniel Amartey, Islam Slimani and Demarai Gray out of Leicester's Europa League squad.

The Foxes' European campaign kicks off on Thursday evening with a visit from Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk. Leicester go into the game in the midst of a selection crisis with Ricardo Pereira, Jamie Vardy, Wilfred Ndidi and Caglar Soyuncu all set to miss out through injury.

Amartey, Slimani and Gray are also unavailable after they were left out of Leicester's 24-man squad for the forthcoming Europa League group stages.

Slimani made his first Premier League appearance since 2018 on Sunday | James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images

Speaking before Thursday's game, Rodgers' outlined the reasons for the trio missing out.

"Demarai, because of when we had to hand the squad in, we weren’t sure if he was going to be here or not,” he explained (via Leicestershire Live). "But he is going to be in our Premier League squad and will be available for that."

Gray is in the final year of his deal at King Power Stadium and was linked with a move away from the club throughout the summer. Slimani is in a similar position, explaining why he also did not make the cut.

Amartey has performed well when called upon this season | James Williamson - AMA/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Amartey was omitted due to an injury he picked up recently.

"Daniel was purely because of injury," Rodgers said. "He’s going to be out for a long period.

"He’s sustained a really bad hamstring injury which is such a shame because he’s worked so hard after a couple of years out, to get game-time and play so well against Manchester City, and then to play against West Ham and to pick up the injury. We were so disappointed for him.