Leicester City dealt major fitness blow ahead of Newcastle United clash as £35m ex-Magpies ‘target’ ruled-out

Their Carabao Cup clash against Leicester City is the first League Cup quarter-final to be played at St James’s Park in over 17 years. Their last match came against Chelsea in December 2006, with the Magpies slipping to a 1-0 defeat against Chelsea courtesy of a late Didier Drogba strike.

Newcastle’s opponents this evening, however, have been dealt a blow ahead of the game with news that Boubakary Soumare has been ruled out of action until February after limping off during their clash with Fulham. Soumare was heavily-linked with a move to St James’s Park throughout 2020 with Newcastle submitting a reported £35m bid for the midfielder during the winter window, before they reignited their interest in the summer to no avail.

Soumare has played 16 times in total for Leicester this season and featured for 72 minutes in their 3-0 Boxing Day defeat to Eddie Howe’s side. Brendan Rodgers revealed the Foxes have a number of injury concerns heading into tonight’s game, including Soumare and James Maddison.

Rodgers said: “It’ll be the same squad as the weekend. There’s no timeline on (Maddison). It’s day to day. He’s working with the medical team.

“Clearly we want him back as soon as possible, like we do with the other players, as we’ve got five players you’d consider to be starting players out. James, along with those players, we hope will be back. But I’ve got no timescale on it.

“(Soumare) will be a wee bit longer. Four to six weeks from when it happened was the diagnosis.”