Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers suggested that Leicester City could allow defender Filip Benkovic to leave the club on loan in January if the right move presents itself, amid reported interest from Derby County.

The Rams are in need of strengthening their defensive options, having already seen Richard Keogh depart the club during the first half of the campaign, while Brighton and Hove Albion loanee Matt Clarke has also missed the last few weeks having picked up an knee injury in Derby’s defeat at Nottingham Forest, which has left Phillip Cocu’s side light at centre half.

Benkovic has not been able to force his way into the Leicester side during the first half of the season, having spent a successful period on loan with Celtic last term, but the form of Jonny Evans and Caglar Soyuncu has seen the 22-year-old struggle for any game time which could make a loan move in January a possibility.

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Speaking in his press conference ahead of Leicester’s Boxing Day clash against Liverpool, Rodgers suggested that Benkovic could potentially be allowed to leave the club on loan in the winter if the right club comes in for the defender, saying: "It depends. If there’s the right team for him and there’s the right possibility then of course we will look at that.

"He stayed behind, he's offered us really good cover, he’s been involved in some of the Under-23s games, so he’s been playing football.

"We’ll see how that develops over the course of January."

The Verdict

Rodgers’ comments will certainly offer encouragement to Derby in their hopes of bringing Benkovic to the club during the January window, with Leicester appearing to be willing to allow the defender to move out on loan if they can find the right environment for him where he will be given regular game time.

The Rams will probably be able to offer that given the problems they have encountered at centre half so far this campaign, and the defender showed during his loan spell with Celtic last season that he can be a really reliable presence at the heart of defence if given a run of games to get into his stride.

Derby will be hopeful of  persuading Leicester to allow Benkovic to join the club swiftly so that they can address the problems at centre half which have affected them during their recent winless run, and following the 3-0 defeat at Reading it will obvious to Cocu that he needs to add to his defensive options as soon as possible.