Pep Guardiola has warned that Kevin De Bruyne will take time to get up to speed for Manchester City, with the star set to feature against Huddersfield Town today.
City are taking on the Terriers in the third round of the FA Cup at the Etihad Stadium and are looking to defend their title.
Last season City went all the way, beating Manchester United at Wembley in the final en route to the Treble.
Pep loves the FA Cup and has again been talking up the competition ahead of today’s game.
It will be very interesting to see what kind of team the Spaniard puts out, but it looks as though City fans will finally get to feast their eyes on Kevin De Bruyne…
Pep Guardiola issues warning to Manchester City fans about Kevin De Bruyne as midfielder prepares to return
This season City have been without De Bruyne, after he got injured in the opening game against Burnley.
The Belgian maestro sustained damage to his hamstring back in August, after having snapped it against Inter in the Champions League final.
He underwent surgery and has been on the sidelines recovering, but returned to training in December while City were at the Club World Cup.
Pep was speaking about De Bruyne in his pre-match press conference, and his comments all but confirm we will be seeing the star in a City shirt today against Huddersfield.
He said (via MEN): “I think it will be good. So when Kevin plays at his best level… Now I don’t ask Kevin to play at his level, it’s just to be calm and play good minutes, and do the principles that he has to do, and the rest will come.
“We cannot force him, a player with a long injury, this kind of situation. I think from my experience, I was a football player and it happened quite similar, I was one year with hamstring problems; when you come back you need time. It’s not, ‘OK, you play’ and it’s the best Kevin.
“So he has to be relaxed, enjoy the minutes he’s going to play, try to win the games, help us to win the games. Kevin maybe in 20 minutes can help us more right now than 90 minutes. And after his body will dictate how much minutes more he can get. I think this is my opinion.”
De Bruyne may struggle initially
It is amazing news that £55 million signing De Bruyne is finally available for selection again, and something that has already struck fear into others, but expectations need to be low in the beginning.
The 32-year-old, dubbed ‘exceptional’ by Mateo Kovacic, has not played football since August and is lacking match sharpness right now.
It would be no surprise if it takes him some weeks to get up to full speed, and it may be a little while before we see him playing 90 minutes for City. That said, he has been working very hard to prepare himself.
Hopefully he will get there as soon as possible, because City will be a totally different force once he is firing on all cylinders.
