Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 6y

Vincent Kompany close to Manchester City return after seeing specialist

MANCHESTER -- Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany should be back in training in "seven to 10 days" after seeing a specialist in Barcelona.

Kompany, 31, has been plagued by muscle injuries in recent seasons and is still recovering from a calf strain.

He has not played since Belgium's 8-0 World Cup qualifying victory over Gibraltar on Aug. 31 and Pep Guardiola sent the defender to see his trusted doctor Ramon Cugat, who has also been treating defender Benjamin Mendy after he suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Kompany will miss Saturday's game at West Bromwich Albion and the midweek game against Napoli in the Champions League but could return after the international break on Nov. 18 against Leicester City.

"He just travelled to see Dr Ramon to see how his injury is, it's much better," Guardiola told a news conference. "In the next seven to 10 days he'll be coming back. It's a muscular injury."

Guardiola doesn't have any other injury concerns although he said his side were fatigued after their midweek League Cup victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers that went to extra-time and penalties.

He did have the luxury of making nine changes from the side that extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points on Saturday.

Sergio Aguero, along with Bernardo Silva, played in both games and may return to the bench for the trip to the Hawthorns, which would mean him waiting even further to break the club's goal scoring record.

"After the game [against Wolves], they were so tired. There were problems with a lot of kicks and it was such a demanding game for us," Guardiola said. "We make a recovery, yesterday we were off. Now the players have come in and we'll see how they are."

City's game will kick off shortly before England play in the under-17s World Cup against Spain with three of the club's players likely to start.

Goalkeeper Curtis Anderson, captain Joel Laitbeaudiere and midfielder Phil Foden have all been regulars on the run to the final in India.

Foden featured on City's preseason to the United States and Guardiola said he may have featured in the midweek game against Wolves but decided that he would benefit from his time with England.

"We are so happy for Joel, Curtis, and Phil. It's good for English football. Big congratulations to the team," Guardiola said.

"The final will not be easy against Spain -- they've dominated football in all categories but it's good. We will try to watch it of course.

"Phil is training with us, like Brahim [Diaz] and Tosin [Adarabioyo]. Joel trains with us sometimes and helps us a lot but regularly Phil and Brahim train.

"He asked me because we had the the opportunity for him to stay here with us and maybe play against Wolves but we believe that when these guys have the opportunity to play a World Cup against Brazil, Spain, Italy, etc in India, for them it is an amazing opportunity to see the high level of their age in a big competition. It will be really good for their growth."

^ Back to Top ^