‘He is coming back,’ Pep Guardiola reassured the fans after a first Premier League loss of the season, giving the news of Kevin De Bruyne’s imminent return an almost-Messianic feel going into the run up to Christmas.
Not that Saturday’s loss to Chelsea should be read as the inevitable result of an injury to a key player. ‘What happened when [Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero] were not here?’ asked the Manchester City manager after the match. ‘We won every game. Of course, I would like to be with Sergio, with Kevin, but the guys did an incredible performance today.’
But the announcement that City’s Belgian midfielder will be returning to training in around a week’s time raises questions about how Guardiola will set up his team with a full complement of midfielders now available to him.
In many respects, the loss of De Bruyne this season was offset by the fact that Bernardo Silva had been brought into the club as an eventual replacement for his namesake David. With Riyad Mahrez coming into the squad over the summer, Bernardo Silva was easily redeployed into the midfield three, neatly solving the problem caused by De Bruyne’s ACL injury.
How good, though, has the diminutive Portuguese midfielder been? Has he earned a starting place ahead of the Belgian?
Pep Guardiola has a selection headache coming with Kevin De Bruyne's injury return
Kevin De Bruyne's return from injury will cause a tactical dilemma at Man City