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This article is part of Football FanCast's The Chalkboard series, which provides a tactical insight into teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...
How Brendan Rodgers and Leicester would fill the glaring slab head-shaped hole in the heart of their defence this coming season was a hot topic of discussion before a ball had even been kicked - though that has since changed.
Harry Maguire's £80m departure to Manchester United before the end of the English summer transfer window left Rodgers with just four central defenders to choose from - namely an ageing Wes Morgan who will be 36 before the season's close, Jonny Evans, Caglar Soyuncu and Filip Benkovic.
The Croatian was arguably the most likely choice to feature this season having originally joined Celtic on loan when Rodgers was in charge of them before he made the switch to the King Power Stadium in February.
He suffered an ankle injury during this summer's European U21 Championship but has been building back towards full match fitness having played the full 90 minutes on Monday night for the U23 squad as they drew 1-1 with Blackburn.
Rodgers was in attendance to see the man who played 23 times under him last season.
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The performances of Soyuncu alongside Evans in the first two games of the Premier League season leaves the Northern Irishman with plenty of food for thought.
Benkovic appeared to be the obvious choice to replace Maguire with both of them enjoying a spell together in Scotland last season.
Leicester have since drawn both their matches, keeping a clean sheet in the first against Wolves before drawing 1-1 with last season's third-place team Chelsea.
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Even though Rodgers knows what he's getting with Benkovic, it's unlikely that the 22-year-old is able to break into the starting XI just yet, though he might take club captain Morgan's place on the bench in the meantime.
Soyuncu has averaged a total of 4 aerial duels won per game across those two fixtures and when comparing that to Maguire's exploits for the Foxes last season, you'll see that's a gradual improvement with their former star averaging a lower 3.8 per game.
The Turkey international is also averaging double the amount of tackles that Maguire could manage last campaign at 2 per game. It is important to state, however, that it could average out over the course of an entire season.
However, with the 6 foot 1 defender in such impressive form, averaging a rating of 7.18 - the third highest amongst the Foxes squad, Benkovic will likely find it rather tough to integrate himself as a starter once he returns to full fitness.
Soyuncu has shown himself an able Maguire replacement so there's no need to disrupt that just yet.
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