Man City’s Benjamin Mendy to miss start of season - Pep Guardiola
New signing Benjamin Mendy will miss the start of Manchester City’s 2017-18 Premier League season with a thigh injury, Pep Guardiola has revealed.
The 23-year-old did not feature in City’s 4-1 pre-season victory over Real Madrid in Los Angeles despite passing a medical and completing a £49.2m move to City from Monaco on Monday.
Guardiola confirmed the defender has been nursing the injury for eight months and is doubtful for City’s Premier League opener away at Brighton on August 12.
“Unfortunately he is a little bit injured and is not ready for the next two or three weeks,” the City boss said.
With Mendy injured, fellow summer signing Danilo made his City debut in the LA Coliseum following his £26.9m switch from Real Madrid.
Deployed as a left wing-back against his former club, the versatile Brazilian is expected to deputise in Mendy’s absence.
With Kyle Walker playing on the opposite flank to Danilo, Guardiola believes City’s victory over Real was a sign of the intensity his new signings would add.
“This is pre-season, we lost the last game against United but did good things,” he added.
“Today was good for the confidence of the players, the way we played with intensity and the level of the performance.
“We want to compete with everyone, our dream is to be more stable and solid. Kyle Walker and Danilo helped us increase our intensity, as will Mendy.
“The result is not important, it’s the way we tried to fight for each and the way we played which is important for our future.”