Jannik Vestergaard made his first Leicester City appearance in more than two months on Friday, but not as a centre-back, with the Dane used an emergency striker
Jannik Vestergaard came on a striker against Preston as he made his first Leicester City appearance in more than two months(Image: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
Jannik Vestergaard will be an option as a striker substitute for the remainder of this season with Gary Rowett vowing to try “unconventional” methods to get Leicester City to safety.
Vestergaard made his first appearance in more than two months on Friday, the Dane back from a spell out following a hernia operation.
But rather than come off the bench in his usual centre-back position, Vestergaard was thrown up front as a target man as City looked to grab a winner against Preston.
Rowett has often bemoaned the lack of a big striker in City’s squad, with nobody to swing crosses into, and so Vestergaard was able to fill that void.
While the manager has ruled out anybody beyond Patson Daka or Jordan Ayew starting up front, using Vestergaard off the bench is an option, especially with Caleb Okoli, Jamaal Lascelles and Ben Nelson available at centre-back.
“Clearly we’re lacking that type of striker where teams drop in and you need that extra aerial presence in there,” Rowett said.
“He’s an intelligent footballer, he’s an intelligent guy. He’s very good technically if he does get a chance on goal.
“Ideally, he’d be easy to slot into the defence to use his qualities there, but at the moment, we’ve got to look at different ways of winning games.
“If we had to do it in a slightly unconventional way, then I’m going to look at every single angle.
“Certainly, it’s easy to look at other players when you’re not scoring lots of goals, and say why don’t we play him up front, but I’ve looked at that in training. There aren’t any obvious options in those areas.
“He’s certainly one who can give us something different just for 10 or 15 minutes at the end of a game. In an ideal world, we don’t have to do that.
“But he certainly came on today with a real determination to score a goal and that’s what you want to see. You want to see players being unselfish and trying to play their part.”
Vestergaard has three goals to his name so far this season, and showed his striker’s instinct with his late equaliser at Wrexham in January.
He ranks joint-fifth for non-penalty goals at City this season, level with Ayew, and behind only Jordan James, Abdul Fatawu, Daka and Bobby De Cordova-Reid.
Subscribe to DAZN
This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more
from £15.99
DAZN
DAZN’s annual pass starts at £15.99 monthly or £119.99 annually and includes more than 185 fights per year from the world’s biggest promoters, plus MMA, BKFC and Misfits crossover boxing.
Is using Vestergaard as a substitute striker a good idea? Click HERE to have your say.