Aguero, Laporte, Gundogan - Manchester City latest injury news and expected return dates

Manchester City have quite big injury problems, as seven players missed the first game of the new season at Wolves. Head coach Pep Guardiola expressed frustration at the situation, which coincides with a general lack of match fitness due to the shortened pre-season. He said: "With this lack of preparation and seven players out and not coming back soon, we have to keep the players from today as safe as possible. "We will see how many are available, how they recover. We have just three days. We won the Carabao Cup three times in a row and we would like to continue but we don't have the players in this period to play every three days." Here is the list of absent player and their return dates. Aymeric Laporte Laporte missed the Wolves game as he was not up to full fitness following a period of self-isolation. "Laporte was not injured but just had one training session," Guardiola said after the game, suggesting he may be available for Thursday's cup clash with Bournemouth or Sunday's league meeting with Leicester. Expected return date: September 27 Eric Garcia Garcia is the second player who could return before October's international break, with Pep Guardiola confirming he missed the Wolves win with a head injury. If Garcia had suffered any kind of concussion he would require ten days recovery. Expected return date: September 27 Bernardo Silva Bernardo limped out of Portugal's second Nations League clash earlier this month, but his absence at Wolves was put down to a 'muscle injury in training'. Guardiola later clarified that Bernardo will 'probably' not be back before the international break. Expected return date: October 17 Joao Cancelo Just like Bernardo, Cancelo returned from international duty and picked up an injury in training. City said Cancelo has a foot problem, with Guardiola confirming he is likely to be out until after the international break. Expected return date: October 17 Ilkay Gundogan Gundogan's positive test for Covid-19 was announced on Monday, with the German in a ten day period of self-isolation. That ten day period would end in the week commencing September 28th, giving Gundogan under a week to prepare for the Leeds fixture, which is currently scheduled for the Saturday. Guardiola did not refer to Gundogan by name, but said: "Most of them are (back) after the Leeds game and after the international break I think they will be ready." Possible return date: October 3 Aleks Zinchenko Zinchenko has a muscle injury, with Guardiola confirming he is unlikely to return before the Leeds fixture. "Joao, Bernardo, Aleks and Sergio will be longer probably after the international break," the manager said. "That is the situation today but it will maybe change a little bit."  Expected return date: October 17 Sergio Aguero Aguero underwent knee surgery in June, missing the last few fixtures of the season. He is back at the CFA and training individually with the ball, but Guardiola admitted he has not trained with the squad yet, and could take another two months to regain full match fitness. “We knew that the injury was difficult,” said Guardiola. “He is doing the job, and in maybe one month or two months he will be ready. “Sergio was out for a long time and Sergio is not a guy who regains physical condition quick, so I think in one month or two months he will be ready.” Expected return date: Late October or early November Source- Manchester Evening News Join us on Telegram

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