Leicester City injury return date given after recall considered
Ben Nelson is expected to return to loan club Oxford United next month and help their bid to stay in the Championship.
The centre-back has been back at Leicester City over the past couple of months recovering from surgery on a quad injury he suffered in November. But it was not the case that the loan was cancelled and Oxford boss Gary Rowett, the former City full-back, expects to see him back at the Kassam Stadium in February.
“Ben Nelson is making good progress with Leicester, and we’d be hoping to get him back at some point maybe mid-February or the end of February,” Rowett told the Oxford Mail. “We’ll wait and see because it’s down to them when it’s appropriate.”
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Nelson suffered his injury in his eighth appearance for Oxford, a 1-0 win over Hull for which then-City manager Steve Cooper was in the stands. Cooper has been considering a January recall for the 20-year-old amid the prospect of Conor Coady, then short of game-time, departing in the winter window.
While Nelson had impressed Oxford fans and staff alike, that win over Hull was his first taste of victory at the club, with five draws and two losses in his first seven appearances. After Nelson’s injury, Oxford claimed just one point from seven fixtures, a run that saw them drop into the bottom three and during which manager Des Buckingham was sacked.
Their fortunes have taken a big upswing since Rowett was appointed. They are unbeaten in their last six matches, winning four, and have risen into mid-table. As things stand, they are six points clear of the Championship’s bottom three.
