Manchester City have been dealt a major blow with forward Ferran Torres ruled out for six weeks after picking up a foot injury on international duty.
Ferran Torres, 21, scored a brace in Spain’s 2-1 win over Italy in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League over the past fortnight. He suffered a knock to his foot that led to him being substituted early in the second half against Italy but received the green signal from the medical department to play in the Nations League final, which Spain lost 2-1 to France via a controversial goal.
As per a report from the Manchester Evening News, the scans post the Nations League final have now revealed that the Spanish forward has suffered a fracture to his right foot that will sideline him for over a month.
Manchester City will play 11 games over the next six weeks in a hectic schedule that’ll include Champions League games home and away to Club Brugge as well as the Manchester derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Torres could miss these important fixtures plus Spain’s World Cup Qualifiers against Greece and Sweden next month, the Manchester Evening News claim.
Torres’ injury comes as a big setback to Pep Guardiola, who will also be without Liam Delap for Saturday’s Premier League encounter with Burnley as the academy striker continues his recovery from an ankle injury.
With Manchester City failing to replace Sergio Aguero adequately over the summer, Guardiola has used Torres as a centre-forward this season. The Spaniard has scored three goals in seven appearances this season, operating extremely well in a new role through the middle.
As Gabriel Jesus’ involvement is a doubt for the Burnley match due to his international commitments with Brazil, Raheem Sterling becomes an option to lead the Sky Blues’ attack on Saturday. Thus, it won’t be wrong to say that the Cityzens’ striker situation is far from ideal at the moment.
In any case, however, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola will need to use his squad and come up with solutions to negotiate the busy run of fixtures.