Manchester City have been given something of a boost as key midfielder Kevin De Bruyne won't feature for Belgium in the upcoming international break.
De Bruyne was left out of Belgium's squad for their friendlies with Ireland and Burkina Faso, meaning he will get a useful two-week rest ahead of the run-in that will see City try and win the Premier League and Champions League.
While De Bruyne would normally be one of the first names in the squad for his country, and the midfielder is always proud to represent Belgium, manager Roberto Martinez confirmed this week that he would rest his star man this month.
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Speaking before Belgium's squad was announced, Martinez confirmed that De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard would be rested for the friendlies in order for him to focus on younger players in a camp without competitive fixtures to play.
"No, I won't make any exception. I wouldn't want to," Martinez said.
"We have the idea of only calling up players who have up to 50 international caps."
He was answering in response to the idea that Lukaku or Hazard could benefit from playing the fixtures to improve their club form, but De Bruyne's rest will be welcome news to City with some big fixtures coming up.
Speaking on Friday, Pep Guardiola expressed his hope that no players would return injured from international duty.
He said: "Right now we go [to Southampton in the FA Cup] to try and go Wembley for the semi-finals, we are in the last eight in Europe, and top of the Premier League. What we have done so far is great. We play this game, pray the players come back from the national team no injuries. We've fought a lot to be there."
De Bruyne joins Gabriel Jesus in being rested for his country, along with Kyle Walker - although an injury to Trent Alexander-Arnold may see Walker get a second chance for England.
So far, Ederson, Zack Steffen, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo, Nathan Ake, John Stones, Rodri, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Jack Grealish have all been called up to their national teams.
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