Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers has defended his decision not to start Kelechi Iheanacho this season.

The Nigerian enjoyed a terrific end to last season, but he only has five bench appearances so far this term.

When asked if it was becoming more difficult to leave Iheanacho out, Rodgers told the Leicester Mercury: "I'm just really happy with the contribution. I see him every day, I know his strengths and I know the areas he can improve on.

"What he's doing is he's making an impact, and I think that's how it started for him here, I was bringing him into games and he was doing well. It's nice now that people have the confidence in him that he's going to contribute.

"There will be enough opportunities over the course of the season for him to start games. It's really about the team, I'm not so much worried about the individual, I need to pick a team that I feel is going to win, and if I need to change a game, I have a bench to be able to do that, and that's what we have.

"I'm always supportive of the individual player, but the team is always more important. You can't play with six attacking players.

"He's a very important player for us, whether he comes into the game or whether he starts."