Man City boss Pep Guardiola may have taken a light swipe at Premier League chiefs today in the wake of De Bruyne’s injury.
Manchester City kicked off their new Premier League campaign last Sunday against Arsenal and ran out 2-0 winners at The Emirates thanks to goals from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva. Guardiola’s side will be looking to retain the title they won last year come May, as well as fight on all other fronts for silverware over the next 12 months.
Kevin De Bruyne was arguably the Citizen’s best player last season, driving the team forward from the middle of the park with his exceptional composure on the ball and fantastic range of passing. He came off the bench last weekend against the Gunners but has since been ruled out of action for 3 months after sustaining a serious knee injury on Wednesday – as per BBC Sport.
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The Belgian midfielder spent the summer in Russia on international duty at the World Cup and helped his country reach the semifinals of the competition, where they lost out narrowly to eventual winners France. The Premier League kicked off a week earlier than the rest of the major European Leagues which forced players like De Bruyne to cut short their breaks after featuring for their countries.
According to RT.com and The Daily Mail, Jose Mourinho and Mauricio Pochettino were among the coaches working in England to have publicly voiced their concerns over the early kick off date, citing the lack of recovery time for World Cup stars as a major concern ahead of the new season.
Now it appears that Guardiola has added his name to the list of disgruntled Premier league bosses, after voicing his opinion on the reason behind De Bruyne’s injury.
As the Manchester Evening News reports, the Spanish coach said in a press conference today: “Sometimes these things happen. They (the players) don’t rest, they have a tough, tough season last season. Human beings have a limit.
“I’m pretty sure this [having little time to prepare for the new season] can be an influence. When you are fresh in your legs, this doesn’t happen.”
City’s next game is at home to Huddersfield on Sunday – their first home game of the new season – and supporters will hope that the squad can cope in the absence of their talismanic midfielder, as the rest of the team’s stars return from holiday after their exploits in Russia.