Pep Guardiola has confirmed Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte will miss tomorrow's Community Shield against Liverpool.
In what is a blow to the Sky Blues' title defence, the Spain international is set for up to a month on the sidelines after receiving knee surgery following the end of the 2021/22 Premier League season. Laporte was taken off with 30 minutes remaining of City's 5-1 win over Wolves in May through injury, though featured in the final two league games of the campaign against West Ham and Aston Villa.
The 28-year-old missed out on Spain's Nations League fixtures last month, played no part in either of the club's two pre-season fixtures and will be unavailable for selection on Saturday afternoon at the King Power Stadium.
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Issuing an update on the centre-back at his pre-Liverpool press conference, Guardiola said: "Laporte is injured. He had surgery after the last few games [of last season], he made an incredible effort. He had surgery, he's doing incredibly well, you have to do careful. It's his knee, he might be out until September."
Taking to Twitter to update supporters on his situation, the ex-Athletic Bilbao defender shared the following message at the end of May: "As you may have read, unfortunately I won't be able to attend the national team games because of the injury I picked up against Wolves that will need further treatment. I have been uncomfortable with my knee since then, but I wanted to help the team to the end, and I am glad that I did so. Now the season is over, I will follow the medical process and start rehab to get back to full fitness quickly."
In the absence of Laporte, John Stones or Nathan Ake are the most likely candidates to feature alongside Ruben Dias in defence.
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