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Leicester City manager Claude Puel could turn to former Chester FC defender Sam Hughes to aid his squad when the Foxes kick off their Premier League season at Manchester United a week on Friday.

The Foxes have a defensive headache leading into the clash at Old Trafford with their first choice centre back pairing of Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire both doubtful for the season opener.

Evans is likely to miss the rest of pre-season after picking up an injury in the pre-season loss to Udinese in Austria, and Maguire, who shone for England at the World Cup in Russia, is not expected to be back in training until close to the start of the season. And Puel has already admitted that Maguire and Jamie Vardy's England involvement could rule them out of the United game.

So where does that leave Hughes?

The 21-year-old, who joined Leicester from Chester last summer for a fee in the region of £130,000, enjoyed a fine debut season in the Premier League 2 Division One under-23s, netting 12 goals in all competitions for the young Foxes to finish the season as leading scorer, captaining the side in the process as the finished third in the division.

His form didn't go unnoticed by Puel who named him as an unused substitute for the Premier League games at home to West Ham United and away at Tottenham Hotspur.

He will be back with the U23s this season, although a loan spell could materialise later in the campaign should the Foxes want him to get more exposure in senior football.

But Hughes, who netted eight times in 64 games in the National League for Chester, may have to be called upon by Puel for the season opener.

Should Evans and Maguire be missing, with the latter heavily linked with a move to Manchester United, then Puel would have only Wes Morgan and Yohan Benalouane as first-team centre-backs. Hughes and fellow U23 players Daniel Amartey, Callum Elder and Josh Knight would provide the other options for the French manager, with Hughes high up the pecking order of those three owing to his impressive debut campaign for the young Foxes.

Chester will received a financial windfall for Hughes' progression into a Premier League player should he play a certain amount of minutes, while other clauses, including a sell-on fee, were built into the deal to send him to the King Power Stadium last summer.