Kevin De Bruyne will be sidelined for “a few months” with a hamstring injury, according to Pep Guardiola, and Manchester City must now decide whether to operate on him.
The 32-year-old midfielder was injured in the first half of Liverpool’s Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in June and did not play a single minute of pre-season.De Bruyne came on as a second-half replacement in Arsenal’s Community Shield shootout loss and captained the team against Burnley in the Premier League opener on Friday.
However, the playmaker from Belgium was only able to play for 23 minutes at Turf Moor before suddenly signaling to the sideline that he was feeling unwell.
He was absent for the majority of City’s preseason, although he made an appearance off the bench in their Community Shield loss against Arsenal on August 6 and assisted Cole Palmer’s goal.De Bruyne remained upbeat despite the evident setback, according to City midfielder Rodri, and he believes Phil Foden is qualified to fill the creative vacuum in a more central position. Lucas Paqueta, a midfielder for West Ham United, is still a target for Manchester City.
Although Paqueta wants to transfer to the Etihad Stadium, West Ham does not want to sell the player.
The Brazilian international played against Bournemouth on Saturday and remained a professional.
Paqueta is reportedly worth around £85 million to West Ham, and ideally, they would need some assurance that a transaction would go through.