Man City's world's most expensive defender out for long term

Man City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed that £52m new defender Benjamin Mendy is likely to be sidelined for several months with a knee injury.

In Man City's 5-0 win over Crystal Palace, left-back Benjamin Mendy suffered a knee injury and had to leave the field in the 29th minute. Mendy is currently in Barcelona for a check-up before knowing whether he will need surgery or not.

With the injury he just suffered, Mendy was absent from the victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in the second match of the Champions League group stage early this morning (September 27) and possibly for the next 3 months.

However, Man City coach Pep Guardiola is concerned that Mendy could be out for nine months, as midfielder Ilkay Guendogan was in the 2016/17 season. "It's likely that Mendy will be out for a long time. If that happens, we'll miss him a lot and that would be unfortunate for Man City," Pep said.

"The possibility of having to sit out for the foreseeable future makes Mendy very frustrated. Just like what happened to Guendogan last season. I myself am very disappointed. With the way Man City are currently playing, Mendy is an important link."

When asked if he would sign a replacement for Mendy in January 2018, Guardiola replied vaguely: “We will wait for Mendy’s injury test results before making a final decision. Actually, in the summer of 2017, I wanted to add a left-back, but now we will consider the situation in January. Currently, I have Danilo, Fabian Delph, Fernandinho who can play in this position.”

According to Bongdaplus