Manchester City will be without two key players when they travel to Wolves for their Premier League season opener this weekend, with manager Pep Guardiola confirming that Croatian centre-back Josko Gvardiol will be unavailable alongside midfielder Mateo Kovacic.
The defensive blow comes as City prepare for their 5:30 PM kick-off at Molineux Stadium on Saturday, with Kovacic already ruled out until September following his injury setback announced by Guardiola last week.
Adding to the Spanish tactician’s selection concerns, Brazilian winger Savinho has been ruled out for several weeks after sustaining an injury during City’s recent pre-season fixture in Palermo, Sicily.
On a more positive note for the reigning Premier League champions, England international Phil Foden and Spanish midfielder Rodri are both expected to make the trip to the West Midlands after missing the Sicilian friendly due to fitness concerns.
During Friday’s media briefing, Guardiola provided a frank assessment of his available squad members ahead of the new campaign.
“Kovacic is not ready, Josko is not ready, the others are,” he began.
“They will travel tomorrow, and selection we will see. Tomorrow, we decide.
“Savinho is injured from Palermo. Few weeks he will be out.”
The City boss emphasised the importance of taking a cautious approach with Rodri’s return to action, highlighting the need to properly manage the Spanish international’s recovery process.
“Rodri is so soon to come back but it is important his knee is perfect,” he stated.
“He played Juventus after six weeks in his leg and we try to avoid that now he needs to play minutes in training sessions.
“What we want for him is to come back and to take a step back that would not be good. In this dynamic you can’t get rhythm; it is so demanding.
“He’s made good training sessions and tomorrow he’s travelling. We will decide how many minutes.
“Hopefully he can play minutes in next games, then after the international break, every three days he can help us.”
The comments suggest City will take a measured approach to reintegrating their key players as they begin their title defence campaign.
