Leicester City midfielder Jeffrey Schlupp will not be available for selection when they face Liverpool in an away fixture on Saturday.
The Ghanaian missed the Foxes’ opening two league matches due to uncertainties over his future at King Power Stadium, and was also forced to sit out the encounter with Swansea before the international break after picking up an injury in training.
He subsequently withdrew from Ghana’s squad for recent games with Rwanda and Russia, but was expected to be back in time for Saturday’s fixture at Anfield.
“Jeff [Schlupp] has started with us, the normal warm-up, and then he does something different,” Ranieri said.
“He is close to coming back. I don’t want to risk [him against Liverpool].”
However, Ranieri is happy not to have recorded any injury casualties during the international break.
He said: “When you start the season you want to continue to keep going but there is also the international break.
“The national teams need to make their job and fortunately nobody was injured, they came back with very good strength and atmosphere.
“We made a very good training session and we are ready to play these seven matches in 22 days. This is our block.
“It is good, it is exciting, we go from the Premier League to Champions League to EFL Cup, and it’s good.”
The Premier League defending champions sit ninth on the log after three rounds of matches.
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