The injury curse continues to plague Pep Guardiola’s squad, with the latest casualty being defender Ruben Dias, whose absence from the pitch has been confirmed by the manager as relatively lengthy.
City’s recent match against Chelsea saw Josko Gvardiol suffer an injury that has effectively ended his season. Dias was also injured in the game, which ended in a 1-1 draw.
In the pre-match press conference before Manchester City’s game against Brighton, Guardiola announced that Dias will be sidelined for four to six weeks due to injury.
Guardiola hinted that with Dias and Gvardiol out, he will rely on the duo of Nathan Ake and Abdulkadir Khusanov in central defense, also mentioning the possibility of signing a new player to bolster his back line.
The Spaniard said, “We hope to have Jevardiol, Diaz, and John Stones back soon, as well as our players currently at the Africa Cup of Nations (Marmoush and Ait-Nouri), to help us through this difficult period.”
He added, “We might make some reinforcements, but the situation is completely different from last season. We won’t be buying four or five players like we did last winter.”
It’s worth noting that English media outlets have linked City with a move for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi to salvage the situation, but the deal appears complicated due to the London club’s financial demands.
