Centre-back Wout Faes was substituted at half-time in Leicester City’s 3-2 defeat to Sheffield United after a nasty gash to his face that required around eight stitches
07:00, 30 Nov 2025Updated 08:53, 30 Nov 2025
Wout Faes was substituted at half-time in Leicester City’s 3-2 defeat to Sheffield United(Image: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)
Wout Faes required stitches on a nasty facial cut that could leave Leicester City with just one fit senior centre-back to take on Derby County next weekend.
Faes sustained the injury during a Sheffield United set-piece late in the first half of Saturday’s defeat and received treatment on the wound at the side of the pitch.
He went down the tunnel before the first half ended and then did not re-emerge for the second period, with midfielder Oliver Skipp filling in well alongside Jannik Vestergaard.
City are low on defenders at the moment, with Caleb Okoli out until Christmas with a knee injury and with Ben Nelson not yet back in training after an ankle injury sustained at Norwich. Harry Souttar is now back in training, but will need time to get back to match fitness after 11 months out with an Achilles tear.
Faes could recover in time to play at Pride Park next week, even if it means playing in a protective mask. Although, City boss Marti Cifuentes did say the Belgian was also suffering from dizziness.
If Vestergaard is the only fit senior centre-back, Cifuentes may have to turn to Skipp again as a ball-playing defender. Equally, he could use Hamza Choudhury, who has had a couple of games at centre-back for City before.
Bade Aluko, usually a full-back, impressed at centre-back in the summer friendlies and will be back from suspension next week.
If Cifuentes wants to go further into the academy, then Kevon Gray is one of the club’s top prospects but he’s never been in a senior matchday squad before.
“It’s a very nasty cut,” Cifuentes said in his post-match press conference. “It required a lot of stitches. It was bleeding quite a lot. He couldn’t continue.”
The manager added to BBC Radio Leicester: “He felt dizzy at half-time, so we had to sub him. But I felt Skippy did really well to play as a centre-half.”
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