Brendan Rodgers gives his Leicester players a mountain to climb … literally

During a pre-season trip to France Brendan Rodgers, keen to take his Leicester squad out of their comfort zone, set off with his players on a glacier walk and climb up Mont Blanc. After a hard few days of double sessions, they left Évian-les-Bains at 7.30am for Chamonix, at the base of western Europe’s highest peak, to get kitted out with crampons and helmets, before hiking into the Italian Alps.

“I think they all enjoyed the experience,” Rodgers says. “Vards [Jamie Vardy], as he does, likes to prey on the vulnerable on the cable car and there were a few screams … when you’re going up, it’s high! The whole thing around it was that this season can be a tough season for us. But if you are going to achieve and get to the highest point you can you’ve got to get through those moments.”

Players were split into different teams, each allocated a guide, and Leicester could take comfort in their expedition leader, Raj Joshi, being an accomplished adventurer who navigated David Beckham through the Amazon. But a little trepidation was inevitable given some of the group had never experienced snow before, and the club photographer was buckled on to Rodgers, wary of the implications of one false move. For Rodgers, who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro while manager of Swansea to raise money in the fight against cancer, it was an opportunity for his team build a closer bond.

“I just wanted to do something different to break up the week. Normally they wouldn’t do anything like that, but they’ll remember it. I always try to give them some sort of life experience. Lots of these young guys are in a bubble: they’re training and working. This was something different and it just opens up their minds.”

It is 15 months since Leicester missed out on a