Cooper Should Give ‘Brilliant’ Leicester City Ace One Last Chance to Earn Starting Role Against Shrewsbury – Opinion
Following Enzo Maresca’s unexpected departure, Steve Cooper has quickly had to familiarize himself with Leicester City’s squad. As Leicester looks forward to a Premier League return, Cooper recently welcomed his players back for pre-season before traveling to Spain.
There, they played Villarreal in Cooper’s first game in charge, securing a 2-1 victory with goals from Jamie Vardy and Stephy Mavididi.This match provided Cooper with valuable insights into his new team.
With a forthcoming fixture against League One’s Shrewsbury Town, Cooper should give goalkeeper Daniel Iversen an opportunity to demonstrate his potential as a Premier League starter.
Iversen, who has been with Leicester since 2016, spent the latter half of last season on loan at Stoke City, after Mads Hermansen established himself as the club’s first-choice keeper.
With Hermansen possibly attracting interest from Chelsea, where Maresca is reportedly keen on signing him, Iversen could be poised to step in as a replacement under Cooper.
The 27-year-old Dane played the second of two 60-minute halves against Villarreal, with Danny Ward featuring in the first.
Cooper should consider giving Iversen a full 90 minutes against Shrewsbury to assess whether he is a viable candidate for the starting role next season.
Though Iversen has only appeared in 17 Leicester games, including 12 in the Premier League’s relegation season, he is far from inexperienced. He has amassed 188 senior appearances across five loan spells in addition to his time with Leicester.
This summer is crucial for Iversen, who may seek a permanent move if he does not receive assurances about a starting role. His loan stint at Stoke last season demonstrated his readiness to fill Hermansen’s position if necessary.
Stoke manager Steven Schumacher praised Iversen after he made several key saves to secure a draw against Preston in March. Schumacher noted, “Daniel is a really good goalkeeper. In this run-in, at this stage of the season, games are decided by small margins. A brilliant save from him gave us that bit of energy we needed to go and get one from the other end.”
