Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has bemoaned the number of key players that are currently out with injuries in his squad.
The City boss mentioned that they are ‘in trouble’ regarding their injury situation – however, he may have exaggerated this, given that only four players in the team are out of action at this point in time.
What did Pep Guardiola say regarding Manchester City’s injury situation?
Speaking in a recent press conference, Guardiola said [via BBC Sport]: “We are in trouble but I am not going to say ‘oh, we have a lot of injuries’. It is what it is. With the players we have, we will go for it. As long as we have that mentality, that is good.
“We have five really important players injured and to sustain that for a long time would be difficult. We can’t have, with the salaries and the budgets for the transfers, 55 players. It would be chaos for the clubs. They would go bankrupt.
“Unfortunately it is a long time for Kevin. John didn’t play, it’s a little bit long. Maybe Kova is coming back. Jack [Grealish] maybe in a week or 10 days, but after he needs his condition.”
Are Manchester City in the midst of an injury crisis?
Currently, City have four players (despite Guardiola’s insistence that they have five players who are currently injured) who are out of action with injuries [via Premier Injuries]: Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic.
Three of these players – Grealish, Stones and Kovacic – are due to return to first team action in the next couple of weeks. As such, it appears that Guardiola’s comments on City being in ‘trouble’ were very much tongue-in-cheek.
Nevertheless, the absence of De Bruyne is something that has been noticeably felt by the squad. Not only is he the best player in an excellent City team – he is arguably one of the best players in the world on his day.
However, the Sky Blues will have to make do without his creative influence until the start of 2024 – such is the extent of his injury.