After last season’s European trek (winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League (UCL)), Manchester City is facing a yellow light at the start of the new season.
City defeated Burnley 3-0 in the opening match of the 2023-24 English Premier League first round at Turf Moor in Burnley, England, on Wednesday morning (Aug. 12). Two goals from last season’s top scorer Jeling Holland and one from Rodriguez. Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, a legendary City defender who played against the Clarets, has learned a thing or two.
Despite the win, it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. In the 23rd minute, attacking genius Kevin De Bruyne felt discomfort in the back of his thigh and was replaced by Mateo Kovacic. De Bruyne was hampered by a hamstring injury at the end of last season and only played the first 36 minutes of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) final against Inter Milan before being replaced by Phil Foden.
He focused on rehabilitation and recovery, missing the pre-season tour of Asia because he wasn’t fully fit. In the Community Shield against Arsenal, he played cautiously as a substitute. We lost the title to the Gunners, but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of the season.
However, he eventually suffered a hamstring malfunction against Burnley. After the game, Pep Guardiola told the BBC’s popular football program MOTD: “Unfortunately, De Bruyne is facing an injury again. We need to see how bad it is. It is in the same position as the injury he suffered at UCL.”
The timetable for his return is undecided. Typically, hamstring injuries take two to three weeks, depending on the speed of recovery. Depending on the circumstances, he could miss the early rounds and be sidelined until the A-Match in September. Guardiola said: “He’s played a lot of games. Maybe it was (my) mistake to bring him back early. I always want to use him as a starter,” said Guardiola.
The idea is to take the pressure off him and let him recover. It’s not that he doesn’t have alternatives and it’s early in the season. However, there is no one at City who plays in the same style as De Bruyne. It would be necessary to give Kovacic or Bernardo Silva, who has been linked with a move, a full attacking midfield role.
According to the Manchester Evening News, ‘City are set to make a move for West Ham United playmaker Lucas Paqueta. West Ham manager David Moyes is said to have said that City have not made the kind of offer the club would like to see, and that the transfer will not be easy. 먹튀검증
The Hammers are also reluctant to sell Paqueta now that Declan Rice has left the club and they have begun to look for a replacement. Having signed Paqueta for a club record £51.5 million last season, it would be difficult to let him go after only one season. If they wanted to keep him, they would have to pay £90 million.
However, the media believes that Paqueta’s style of play is different from the ball possession and quick transitions that Guardiola is looking for, making him a poor fit for City. However, Ilkay Gundogan’s
