Pep Guardiola’s woes seem to have worsened as Manchester City’s medics and physicians are now being forced to make room for Manuel Akanji and Matheus Nunes.
The Swiss international and the Portuguese international were both called up for their respective nations ahead of the November international break. Akanji did not participate in the Brighton & Hove Albion game, which happened to be City’s fourth loss in a row (second straight loss in the Premier League).
Asked about the defender’s absence, Guardiola said: “Manu said [on Friday], ‘I felt so bad in the training session and I could not move properly’, and against that team [Brighton] I prefer fresh people.”
Nunes did, however, but walked down the tunnel on his own and made the trip to his national team camp, only for Portugal’s physicians to declare him unfit during physicals, which led to him being sent away from the camp back to his club to recuperate. Now, Akanji and Nunes joins John Stones, Ruben Dias, Rodri, Oscar Bobb and a few others in the rehab centre, leaving Guardiola short of almost half of his preferred squad.
Jack Grealish, who was just recovering from an injury that had kept him away from the City setup for the last two matches, was selected for England’s squad. Guardiola made it clear that he was unhappy over the winger’s selection, as they had to deal with any aftermath of playing someone who was only just returning to training following an injury layoff.
“National teams always play in this period and I’m always pleased for players to go – when they are fit and they haven’t struggled for the past one, two, three or four weeks,” Guardiola said last week.
“In 17 days he didn’t train once. Today was the first training and he trained for 20 minutes. That is the reality.
“Yes, he was in the gym for a few minutes for the past two days but it’s a question for the manager from the UK (England) – I’m not involved.”
The worry increases for Guardiola, whose next two Premier League fixtures are against Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool. He will also be facing Feyenoord Rotterdam in the UEFA Champions League, which adds to his squad selection headache.
