This article is part of Football FanCast's The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

There’s a space waiting for him.

Matty James has had a number of injuries that have kept him from flourishing at the King Power Stadium in recent years. So much so that he failed to appear in the league at all last term.

Speaking in his press conference yesterday, Brendan Rodgers gave an update on the 28-year-old and said that although he hasn’t been able to see much of the pitch this season, that doesn’t mean he’s completely out of Rodgers’ plans:

“He is a miss, Matty, he’s just been so unfortunate. In terms of how I want to work and my ideas for the team, he gets it 100 per cent. He’s just been really unfortunate with injuries and that’s affected his physicality."

So whilst it looks like he’s got a chance to make an impact at some point in the near future, do the numbers give him a chance?

On the chalkboard

As a central midfielder, his biggest competition for places is going to be Youri Tielemans and James Maddison, both of whom have more or less established themselves as the first-choice central midfielders this season (all stats provided by WhoScored).

Let’s first look at his passing numbers, and he manages to split his two main competitors almost right down the middle, with a completion percentage of 82.1, compared to Maddison’s 82.6 and Tielemans 81.8.

He does trail them significantly when it comes to his average number of passes per game though, coming in at 36.6, compared to 54.5 and 47.1 of Tielemans and Maddison respectively, but hopefully, he’ll be able to get those numbers up once he’s more integrated to a Rodgers system.

The only saving grace for him would be his defensive capabilities, where he again has the edge over Tielemans, averaging 1.7 tackles and 1.5 interceptions compared to 1.2 and 0.6 for the Belgian.

However, with Maddison averaging 2 tackles per game and 0.5 interceptions, he gives him a run for his money on that side of the ball.

So it’s really going to come down to how Rodgers intends to play him, will he be helping the attack going forward, or the likes of Wilfred Ndidi at the back?

Perhaps it will dictate what kind of game Rodgers wants to play on a given day. Either way, it would be harsh to say that his Leicester career is over just yet.