As Manchester City began their Premier League campaign against Wolverhampton Wanderers, they were hit with the news that Ilkay Gundogan has tested positive for coronavirus.
According to Sport, the German will now have to isolate for 10 days, which will mean that he will miss the Premier League games against Leicester City and Leeds United (September 27 and October 3, respectively) and the cup game against Bournemouth on September 24.
He isn’t the first player at the club to test positive for coronavirus either.
Both Aymeric Laporte and Riyad Mahrez weren’t able to train with their team-mates until this week after contracting symptoms.
If anything, Gundogan’s positive test result proves that the virus is still virulent, with players and clubs needing to take every precaution to ensure that a wave of positive tests don’t follow.
Pep Guardiola in the meantime will have to name his squads without the midfielder’s presence.
Given how well they’ve played against Wolves, however, one could make an argument that Gundogan will find it hard to get back into the starting XI.