Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has praised winger Harvey Barnes heading into Saturday's clash with Burnley, following the 23-year-old's recovery from an injury.
Barnes, who has started all five of the Foxes' Premier League games so far this season, was ruled out of the final portion of last term with a knee injury picked up in February, seeing him miss out on the final 12 league games and his side's 1-0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
When asked about the returning winger in his pre-match press conference, Rodgers said: "I get the sense that people think we're halfway through the season. We're only five games in. Players are only just finding their fitness. Barnesy I can see him getting better. Last season he was one of the top attacking players in the league and then sustained an injury. He's been finding his legs again."
After questions from the press over the speed of Barnes's return to the pace of the Premier League, the Northern Irish manager continued, saying: "He was very good in the Napoli game. He was a threat in the second half last week. He's looking very strong."
The English attacker hit his first goal of the season in that clash with Italian outfit Napoli in the opening game of the Europa League group stage, putting the Midlands side 2-0 up after his cross found Ayoze Perez to score the opener, only for the Foxes to throw the two-goal lead away in the dying minutes and share the spoils.
They now meet a Burnley side who are yet to secure a victory in the English top flight this campaign, and sit in 19th place with one point from five outings.
Sam Varley
