Ricardo Pereira in line to return to Leicester City team for Europa League tie against Zorya Luhansk

Ricardo Pereira could make his first Leicester City appearance in more than eight months this week.

Pereira, the Portugal international, is in contention to face Zorya Luhansk in the Europa League on Thursday night, while Caglar Soyuncu and Wilfred Ndidi are also set to join the travelling squad after abductor tears.

Brendan Rodgers has been without Pereira since March 9 after the wing-back suffered a serious knee injury in the 4-0 victory over Aston Villa.

The 27-year-old is one of Leicester’s most highly regarded players and his absence was a huge factor in the club missing out on a Champions League place towards the end of last season.

Pereira appeared for the under-23s last week and, if he continues to progress in training, is poised to join Leicester for their fifth Europa League game in Ukraine.

Soyuncu, the Turkey international, has not played since Oct 4 and is also in line to play, while Ndidi has missed over two months and Rodgers said: “The boys are training and we’re hopeful those three will get some game time in Luhansk.

“That’s great news for us, coming into a busy period. We’re having up to nine games [a month] and they are close together, which is always a tough ask, but the players have been outstanding.

“They’ve known they’ve got to be ready every day, recover well and adapt this year with European football,” Rodgers added.

“We have to be right on it physically with the league games and so far the players have done really with it.”

Leicester return to the Premier League on Monday night with a home game against Fulham.