Ruben Dias: Manchester City defender out for ‘three or four weeks’
Manchester City have been dealt a fresh injury blow as manager Pep Guardiola confirmed that Portugal central defender Ruben Dias has been ruled out for “three or four weeks” with a muscle injury.
Dias, who suffered an injury in Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United, will miss the entire festive program and potentially the FA Cup third-round clash with Salford on January 11.
The 27-year-old also faces a battle to be fit for City’s crucial Champions League trip to Paris Saint-Germain on January 22.
Dias has already missed seven games this season due to a calf injury, joining John Stones, Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Kyle Walker on the defensive injury list who have all been ruled out at various points, while Ballon d’ ‘And winner Rodri will be missed. He missed the remainder of the domestic season after suffering a knee ligament injury.
“It’s a muscle problem and he’ll be out for three to four weeks,” Guardiola said.
“After 75 minutes against United he felt something. But he is very strong and wanted to stay on the pitch. Now he is injured.”
Guardiola confirmed that Stones, Akanji and midfielder Mateo Kovacic have trained this week and could feature at Aston Villa on Saturday (12:30 GMT), but said goalkeeper Ederson was a “doubt” with an unspecified problem. .
With City on one win from their current 11 matches, there has been surprise at Guardiola’s use of youngsters James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly.
City decided to retain both players despite several loan options. Yet McAtee has made only two substitute appearances – coming in the last minute on both occasions – while O’Reilly has yet to make his league debut.
But it seems likely that he will remain at the club for the second half of the season, with Guardiola responding “I don’t think so” when asked if the player could leave the club during the January transfer window.
