Manchester City defender Nathan Ake has resumed training, but there was no sign of Kevin De Bruyne in the club’s latest batch of training photos.
City went top of the Premier League at the weekend, beating Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage.
Erling Haaland and Julian Alvarez were on target for the visitors, in what proved to be a tricky test in the end.
City were without Ake for the game, with the Dutch defender still recovering from the hamstring injury he picked up against Bayern Munich.
But Ake has now resumed training, which is a major boost Pep Guardiola.
Ake has had an absolutely tremendous season and had really nailed down that spot as a left-sided defender.
He has missed the club’s last three Premier League games and also the FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United.
But it looks as though he could be in contention again very soon.
Last night, he uploaded some photos of him back in training, along with the caption ‘Back at it’.
City are in action against West Ham United tomorrow night. It remains to be seen if he will have any kind of involvement.
Given how well Manuel Akanji has deputised for Ake, you would imagine there will be no rush to get Ake back in.
Sadly, one man who appears not to have been in training in the last couple of days for City is De Bruyne.
The £55 million ace did not travel with the squad for the Fulham game, with Pep Guardiola saying before kick-off that he was carrying an injury he picked up in the game with Arsenal.
The club have been fairly tight-lipped about the situation, which is causing supporters to worry.
He does not appear in any of the new photos released by the club.
Nathan Ake news is fantastic news for Man City, but Kevin De Bruyne training absence is a concern
Ake being back in training is brilliant. He has been one of City’s best players this season and it will be great to see him back in the team soon.
But no De Bruyne in the latest batch of training photos is worrying.
Guardiola did not put a time frame on his return when he revealed the midfielder was carrying an injury.
And there have been no updates about his situation which is concerning.
Perhaps the club are reluctant to make any kind of announcement publicly about it if it’s serious, knowing that doing so could hand Arsenal a big psychological boost.
