Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has shared a fresh update regarding an injury concern surrounding Kevin De Bruyne.
Ahead of City’s 1-0 victory against Brentford, it was a surprise to see the £400,000-a-week (Sport Rac) man named on the bench.
In a must-win game in the context of the Premier League title race, for Guardiola not to start arguably his best player on Tuesday night was a shock.
Pep Guardiola shares fresh Kevin De Bruyne injury update
Considering the game was tied at 0-0 before Erling Haaland’s 71st-minute winner, it was also surprising to see Pep Guardiola bring Jeremy Doku off the bench instead of Kevin De Bruyne.
But seeing how De Bruyne did not get called upon at all, it was natural to expect that he may have picked up a knock.
After Manchester City went to second place in the league table by getting over the line against Brentford, Pep Guardiola gave an insight into the suspected injury picked up by Kevin De Bruyne.
“Today, we cannot use Kevin [De Bruyne] because he has niggles in his hamstring position, I didn’t want to take any risks with him”, he said [via HaytersTV].
But Pep Guardiola claimed that the injury concern surrounding Kevin De Bruyne was not serious, saying, “He’s okay, he’s okay, it’s just more caution and prevention that I think but he didn’t feel comfortable, the doctor said it is a little risk and I said, okay.”
“After five months off, we didn’t take any risks about that over him.”
Wise not to risk Kevin De Bruyne at this stage of the season
With Manchester City set to face tricky opposition like Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Aston Villa in March, an injury to Kevin De Bruyne would be a nightmare for Pep Guardiola and Co.
So much so that one would understand if City were ruled out by fans and pundits alike as potential winners of the Premier League and the Champions League; such is the importance of De Bruyne to this side.
From a Sky Blues perspective, one hopes the 32-year-old returns to full fitness as soon as possible as his absence will be sorely felt once again if he is deemed injured going forward.
