Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is recovering from his ankle injury faster than first thought and should be back after the international break. What does this mean for City’s chances?
After Manchester City limped to a lifeless and uninspired 1-0 loss against rivals United, you’d be forgiven for going to somewhat extreme lengths to find a silver lining to the cloud hanging over the Etihad. Good news stories are limited mostly to further player names being pulled out of the Pep Guardiola summer signings spree hat, after which, if rumors are to be believed, one would wonder why he doesn’t just have Sheikh Mansour buy Bayern Munich. Would be neater.
Sadly such stories are always taken with more than just a grain of salt and provide little comfort for the Citizen looking at the unthinkable – his team might well lose their top four spot and the Champions League that comes with it.
With that in mind, let me give you some genuinely positive news floating about today – star signing Kevin De Bruyne, injured after carrying Manchester City past Everton in the Capital One Cup (which they went on to win) on January 27, is on his way back and faster than expected. Speaking to City TV, the Belgian midfielder said the following:
"“The injury is going good. I am training very well and thinking I am ahead of schedule, so I am looking to be back after the international break. It looks like I’m a couple of weeks ahead.I think it is always frustrating for a player not to be there but from the moment it happened I switched my button and I am preparing myself to do well the next couple of games I will be there.It has been tough because we lost a couple of games in the league and we are a little bit behind, but we are there in the Champions League – looking forward to that obviously and hopefully we can do well.”"
It’s no secret that City’s season has been marred by injuries. Yes, injuries. Everybody blames them, but have you seen a year with just as many as this year at City? It hardly exonerates Manuel Pellegrini from the poor results of late, but it’s without a doubt that missing out on De Bruyne, Samir Nasri and Fabian Delph, all who play in the middle of the park, has severely limited his options. Do you think for a second Wilfried “offensive black hole” Bony would be stuck in behind Sergio Aguero if De Bruyne was back?
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The facts don’t lie, in January City won 5, drew 2 and lost 1. In February, post De Bruyne injury, the sky blues managed a shocking 2 wins, 3 draws and 3 losses and their form since then has only gotten worse. How much worse? In their last six games in the league they’ve got 4 points out of a possible 18, good for 16th in the league. Hello Norwich City!
Meanwhile, it’s been obvious for anyone with eyes that Manchester City have missed De Bruyne like Bony misses goal. He’s scored 12 goals in all competitions for City this year, second only to Aguero, despite only starting 25 games. Aside from the 12 he scored himself, he’s assisted another 12 this year too, which is more than any other player in the squad, bar none. His role in the lineup cannot be underestimated, nor can it be overstated how large a blow his injury came to City right when they needed him.
For now though, it seems as if there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel. Will De Bruyne’s return (alongside Nasri and Delph) help Manchester City turn the corner? Hard to say. Almost certainly there’s no hope of contention for the title, with 15 points separating Pellegrini’s men with high flying Leicester City. But that Champions League spot, for what it’s worth, is still in City’s hands and if they want to be holding after the final 8 games then they will need to be at full strength.
Next: Manchester City - Pellegrini to blame
De Bruyne’s return does little at present to solve City’s struggles on the pitch and off. The brouhaha over ownership’s ill-advised pricing of the PSG game tickets still remains very much an issue. With De Bruyne back though, you might just get a bit more of your money’s worth.