Pep Guardiola offers worrying update on Kevin De Bruyne as impressive statistics show what Manchester City will miss
Pep Guardiola has admitted Kevin De Bruyne's injury is worse than feared in a worrying report about the Manchester City star.
DeBruyne He has not played for City since he was sent off at half-time in the Champions League draw against Inter Milan in mid-September.
The 33-year-old also missed four months of last season following hamstring surgery.
“I would like to tell you (when he can return), above all I would like to know, but I don't know,” Guardiola said.
“He feels better to train, but to reach the level we need for the competition he is still in pain. Kevin has to feel good to express the enormous talent he has.”
When asked if the injury was more complicated than it initially appeared, Guardiola added: “Yes, that's why I'm not a doctor. He feels better, but not in the best way.
“If he doesn't return as quickly as possible, we will have problems because we can't sustain him with 14 or 15 players, but it is what it is.
“We need the players to return, but it is what it is. Hopefully that can happen after the international break.”
De Bruyne will be a big failure for City, no player has made more passes into the box (33) than him.
This is even more notable given that the playmaker has missed eight games for the club this season, winning six and drawing two.
Guardiola's team has scored 20 goals in those games (2.5 goals per game), while before his injury they scored 12 in six (2 goals per game).
Guardiola's injury problems have been growing in recent weeks.
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Newly crowned Ballon d'Or winner Rodri is out for the rest of the campaign, Oscar Bobb is yet to play after breaking his leg in pre-season, while Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish and Jeremy Doku will miss Wednesday's Carabao Cup trip to Spurs.
After beating Watford in the last round, Guardiola said he intended to play academy players in this competition due to already strong demand from his senior team, although a draw against Spurs forced a rethink on that front.
The likes of James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly are hoping to feature, but Guardiola admitted he needed to prepare for the challenge of a Tottenham side smarting from a 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at the weekend.
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“There is someone (who will come to the team) but we are playing against Spurs,” Guardiola said.
“They are coming from a defeat and I know what that means mentally for the coaches and players. They are playing against City, I'm sorry to say, but we have won four Premier Leagues in a row. I know they will be at their best.
“We also won the Carabao Cup four in a row (between the 2017-18 and 2020-21 seasons) and I always used the early rounds to play against guys who didn't play regularly.
“Now we have the problem that we have a lot of injured players and I can't rotate like I would and I don't want to put too much pressure on the young players in this scenario for this opponent, so I have to do a combination of players.”
City will face Spurs in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, which will be broadcast live on talkSPORT.
