Manchester City star Kevin de Bruyne has returned to first-team training weeks ahead of schedule.
De Bruyne is arguably one of the – if not the – most important players in Pep Guardiola’s City squad.
The Belgian midfielder turned 32 last month, although he has shown no signs of slowing down.
Last season – his eighth at City since joining from Wolfsburg in a £54.5m move in 2015 – De Bruyne scored 10 goals and provided 31 assists in 49 appearances in all competitions.
City ended last season as treble winners, with De Bruyne’s final outing of the campaign coming in the Champions League final win against Inter Milan.
However, De Bruyne’s final moments on the pitch in Istanbul caused City fans a great deal of concern.
The midfielder dynamo was replaced by Phil Foden towards the end of the first half after sustaining a hamstring injury.
De Bruyne had been dealing with a hamstring issue throughout the final couple of months of the campaign, but on June 10 he suffered a grade three hamstring tear.
The star looked visibly upset as he left the field, understandably so.
Such injuries can take at least two months to recover from, and it was widely reported that De Bruyne would miss the start of the new season.
KDB back to business
De Bruyne was included in City’s pre-season tour group that travelled to Japan last week, but it was thought he would largely just continue his rehab.
On Saturday the Belgian was spotted using an exercise bike while the rest of the squad trained, and on Tuesday Pep Guardiola said the midfielder was ‘close’ to making a return.
That turned out to be the case later that day, as De Bruyne took part in team training.
Wednesday’s friendly against Bayern Munich will likely come too soon for De Bruyne to feature, but it’s possible he could be fit in time for the Community Shield clash with Arsenal on August 6.
