Wilfred Ndidi has started every Premier League game since Rodgers took over at Leicester City, can he be the Foxes’ Steven Gerrard?
Brendan Rodgers has hailed the quality of his Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi and believes he could be the Foxes’ answer to Steven Gerrard, in quotes reported by Leicestershire Live.
Leicester appeared to take a real risk when they signed the little-known 20-year-old from Genk in January 2017, paying £15 million for a player who was hardly a household name outside of Belgian football (BBC).
But Ndidi has been worth every penny at the King Power Stadium, filling the void left by Ngolo Kante with his energy, drive and tenacity in the centre of the park.
Unsurprisingly, the Nigerian has started every game since Rodgers took over from Claude Puel a month ago and he was arguably the best player on the pitch as Leicester cruised to a 2-0 win against Bournemouth on Saturday.
And Rodgers believes Ndidi could do the same job as the legendary Gerrard did for his free-flowing Liverpool side.
“I’ve always had one in my teams – that sort of central pivot that orchestrates the game,” said Rodgers.
“I had Steven (Gerrard) do it for me at Liverpool.
“He covers the ground, his anticipation of where the ball is going and how he reads it and the number of counter attacks he stopped (against Bournemouth).
“He’s a fantastic player and he’s only going to get better.”
Ndidi has often started alongside another deep-lying enforcer in Papy Mendy this season, giving the likes of Youri Tielemans and James Maddison the freedom to cause havoc in the final third.
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