Pep Guardiola has said that players who cannot “sustain” Manchester City’s schedule because of serial injuries or fatigue will have to leave, with those under threat including Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Nathan Aké, Ilkay Gündogan and Bernardo Silva.
In Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League defeat at Real Madrid, Stones became the latest City player to be struck down, the defender forced off after eight minutes by a thigh problem, with fears his season could be over. This was only the 30-year-old’s 20th appearance this season owing to injuries, with Guardiola suggesting that Stones and Manuel Akanji, who is out with an abductor problem, may require surgery. He said: “The next hours, days, we’ll know if he needs surgery or not. Like Manuel Akanji.”
Guardiola is clear that many of his players cannot play 50 or more games, and with 11 of his squad being aged 30 or more by September, he suggested some will have to depart.
The Catalan said: “That is a reality. We have to sit down with the doctors, with physios, with the players, with the agents, and be clear that some of them cannot sustain every three days, every month, every two months, playing every three, four days. So this is the reality. There’s one more year, [then] a World Cup.”
Aké, who is 30 and replaced Stones against Real, has played only 16 times this term. The 33-year-old De Bruyne was out for nearly two months from mid-September because of a pelvic problem and last season suffered a serious hamstring injury that limited him to 26 appearances. Guardiola was asked why the Belgian was an unused substitute in Madrid.
“It’s just a decision,” he said. “It’s on what I have seen – for a few reasons. Also Jérémy [Doku] didn’t play – the last game he played was Ipswich, he was unbelievable, and then afterwards he was injured. But maybe for the demands of the way we need to play, for the absence of strength that we have and physicality, we need more control and not up and down.”
Those who will also be 30 or more by September are Akanji, Gündogan, Silva, Jack Grealish, Mateo Kovacic, Stefan Ortega, Ederson and Kyle Walker, who is on loan at Milan.
Guardiola believes the schedule is too heavy. “It’s a lot of games,” he said. “More than 50 games is too much for the players in the season. It’s too much for the human being, for the body cannot sustain.”
Erling Haaland missed the defeat by Real Madrid after hurting his knee in the closing stages of the home victory over Newcastle last Saturday. The club had been hopeful the Norwegian could feature, and scans have not indicated any damage, but Haaland felt pain on the day of the game and consequently remained on the bench.
Guardiola said on Friday he was unsure whether the 24-year-old would be fit when the champions host Premier League leaders Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. “Maybe, but I don’t know yet,” said Guardiola when asked at his pre-match press conference. “Tomorrow we will know it. We will train today and he will test, but I don’t know.”
Haaland has scored 27 goals in all competitions this season, but new signing Omar Marmoush scored a hat-trick against Newcastle, suggesting City do now have other good attacking options.
Guardiola said: “It is better to have Erling on the pitch than not have him, obviously, and with Erling we are in the position we are right now. Everybody is responsible for the good things and the bad things in the team, but of course with Erling we are stronger.”
