Boss Brendan Rodgers believes the World Cup break will help Leicester – but wants as many of his stars in Qatar as possible.
The Foxes chief is eager for his players to experience the World Cup even if it means losing them for six weeks.
Danny Ward, Timothy Castagne, and Youri Tielemans are the only senior players expected to feature heavily, for Wales and Belgium respectively, while James Justin has an outside chance of making England’s squad with James Maddison’s hopes seemingly over.
Leicester travel to Everton on Saturday in the Premier League relegation zone but Rodgers insists he would not be selfish and wish for the Foxes’ players to stay at home to help their survival bid in the second half of the season.
“I wouldn’t think like that,” he said. “All of the players whose countries have qualified, I would absolutely love them to go and experience a World Cup because it may be the only time in their life they get the chance to do it. I’d love them to go and play.
“Definitely that period, it gives us chance to go in-depth on it. We all understood the issues we were having and we’ve worked hard to look to put that right. The team’s in a different place, the mentality’s in a different place.
“But you have to continue to work. In that period, that’s what we’ll look to do. From a football and analysis perspective, it will be a good time for that.”
Jonny Evans will be assessed as he continues to battle a calf injury while Ricardo Pereira (Achilles) and Ryan Bertrand (knee) are out.
Leicester have the chance to rise as high as ninth before the break next week and Rodgers is keen to be in a comfortable position, with the Foxes currently 18th.
He said: “If you have to sit and look at the table for six weeks, it can play on your mind. But our idea is to ensure we’re not there and continue the form we’ve picked up over this last period.”
