Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted he has concerns over the fitness of defender Benjamin Mendy and may have to bring someone else into the club in the summer transfer window.
City will need every player available as they attempt to pip Liverpool to the Premier League title this season.
What is wrong with Mendy? Five things you need to know…
- Benjamin Mendy signed for Manchester City in 2017, moving from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco for £52 million.
- The French full-back has made just 20 appearances for the Citizens in almost two seasons due to injury.
- The 24-year-old has played just 1171 minutes in the Premier League.
- Mendy has suffered two long-term knee injuries in two seasons including a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his first season, followed by cartilage problem this campaign.
- And Guardiola has revealed this may lead the club to look for a new left-back in the summer.
Speaking to reporters, Guardiola acknowledged the lack of a consistent left-back for City across the past two seasons.
Young Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko has filled in admirably in the absence of Mendy but Guardiola has conceded that he may have to look elsewhere due to the fitness concerns over his left-back.
Guardiola said: “I don’t know what’s going to happen but we are thinking about the chance to find somebody in that position, but I don’t know.
“There are three or four positions I think we have to try to look for and we have some ideas. I don’t know in the end what is going to happen but it is an option, yeah, to buy a left-back.”
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“It’s not about English football”
Speaking prior to City’s Premier League away trip to the south coast to play AFC Bournemouth, Guardiola insisted that it isn’t the pace and power of the English game that has inflicted damage on Mendy.
Confirming that Mendy is still not fit to play, Guardiola spoke of his concerns on the player’s fitness and admitted that he may be forced to look elsewhere.
“Today, he’s not fit,” Guardiola said.
“It’s not about English football, it’s the fact that he’s not able to play, he injured during two seasons.
“Yeah, yeah yeah. If it happens in two seasons it can happen three, yeah definitely. Hopefully not, we’ll work with that, he’s working with that, but the truth is we could use him in few games.
“That is the reality. At the end the strongest guys, every day are there. That is the truth. That’s why we are looking for, maybe, you know [a left-back] for next season.”
The post Pep Guardiola confirms Man City transfer plans and Benjamin Mendy concerns appeared first on Squawka News.
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