Kevin De Bruyne will miss the start of next season due to the hamstring injury he sustained in Manchester City’s Champions League final win.
The City attacking midfielder has been one of the club’s and world’s best players of the last seven years or so.
He was pivotal to his side’s historic treble-winning campaign last season but was forced to watch much of the victory over Inter Milan in Istanbul from the sidelines.
The 31-year-old started the UCL final but had to be subbed off after just 36 minutes after picking up what appeared to be a hamstring injury, with Phil Foden taking his place.
And now, Pep Guardiola will have to make do without him for at least the first two games of the 2023/24 campaign, with the Daily Star reporting that scans have revealed that the Belgian has suffered a Grade Three hamstring tear.
While the injury does not require any surgery, it is set to keep De Bruyne out for roughly the next month-and-a-half, meaning he will miss all of the summer pre-season.
But more pressingly, it is said that he will still be out of action when City’s season gets underway on 6th August when they face Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley.
City will be looking to win their seventh shield and their first since 2019 having lost out to Liverpool and Leicester in the last two seasons.
Furthermore, he will again miss out when the Citizens kick-off the new Premier League season away to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley at Turf Moor on the night of the 11th August.
However, club doctors are optimistic De Bruyne will be back on the pitch for their next game on 16th August: the UEFA Super Cup, where City will face Europa League winners Sevilla in Piraeus, Greece.
The Manchester club round off August with a tricky home clash against Newcastle and a trip to newly-promoted Sheffield United.
The injury lay off could affect De Bruyne’s chances of becoming City’s new captain following the departure of skipper Ilkay Gundogan who is set to join Barcelona on a free.
Defenders Ruben Dias and Kyle Walker are the frontrunners to be handed the armband alongside the attacking midfielder.
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