Claudio Ranieri has revealed that Watford central defender Nicolas Nkoulou could be out injured until April. While speaking to the press after the Leicester match,
Claudio Ranieri said: “N’Koulou is again out, and I think [he will be back] at the end of March, April.”
Currently, Craig Cathcart and Franciso Sierralta are the first-choice centre-backs with William Troost-Ekong at the Africa Cup of Nations and Christian Kabasele still out injured. ON Kabasele,
Claudio Ranieri explained: “Could be ready in two weeks because he started the first training session with us yesterday and now he has to train to achieve the level of his teammates.”
Of course, Samir will hopefully be able to come in a be a regular in the starting team but it remains unclear as to how long he – or any other new signing – will take before they are ready to play. On that matter,
Claudio Ranieri said: “I have to train [them] before they can play. They arrived yesterday, this morning, and then it’s difficult to put them on the pitch without a training session. And some players finished [their last games on the] 11th of December and the others also before, and then they need to make a training session. They train at home, but you understand when you train at home it’s not the same thing to train with the team.”
