Pep Guardiola has said Kevin De Bruyne could be set for surgery on his hamstring and is expected to be out for three to four months.
De Bruyne sustained the injury during City’s Premier League opener at Burnley which ended 3-0.
The Belgian was forced off midway through the first half. He will obviously now miss the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on Wednesday night as City eye another trophy after landing the Treble across 2022/23.
Speaking in his UEFA Super Cup press conference, Guardiola said:“It’s a serious injury. We have to decide on surgery but he will be a few months out.”
Asked when the decision would be taken, he revealed: “In the next days”.
And on the worse case scenario, the boss added: “Surgery would be, I don’t know, three or four months out.”
Guardiola spoke of his disappointment in losing De Bruyne for a sustained period of time because of his ‘specific qualities’ but he did insist that the team must ‘look forward’ and lean into the options available in his absence.
“First of all, the injury to Kevin is a blow and big loss for us,” he continued.
“Kevin has specific qualities. You can lose it for one or two games but for a long time this is tough for us.
“But we have to look forward and we have alternatives there at other options.
“[There are] opportunities now for the other ones – life gives you that – and I am pretty sure they will take it.”
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