“It’s riskier than other places” – Pep Guardiola provides important injury update on Manchester City midfielder

Manchester City could be buoyed by the return of central midfielder Mateo Kovacic to first-team action as soon as this week, according to Pep Guardiola.

The Croatia international has been out of action for the Premier League champions following the conclusion of the most recent national team break, having not played a single minute for his country this month due to an injury problem.

While national media in Croatia had originally credited his absence to a muscular problem in his back, a fresh update from Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has indicated that the issue was associated with his thigh.

With that being said however, it is expected now that City could welcome back Mateo Kovacic to first-team duties at either Newcastle United on Wednesday night, or during the Premier League visit to Wolves on Saturday afternoon.

Speaking after the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the weekend, Pep Guardiola delivered an in-depth update on Kovacic, revealing his return to first-team training date and most details around the injury itself.

When asked when he could return to action, Guardiola responded, “Soon.”

He continued, “Tomorrow (Sunday), I think he’s going to train with the team already. Today (Saturday) he made a partial (training), but we didn’t take the risk with the injury he had in the front of his leg – it’s riskier than other places. But tomorrow he’ll start to train.”

Manchester City remain on a 100 per cent winning streak in the Premier League so far this season, despite the injury problems that have hampered Pep Guardiola’s first-team options for the most part of the campaign.

Those issues were heightened further during the 3-1 UEFA Champions League group stage opener victory against Crvena zvezda, as Bernardo Silva was replaced on the stroke of half-time with a muscular problem.

The Portugal international is likely to be ruled out for the upcoming two matches at a very minimum, and the return of Mateo Kovacic to the first-team squad will be a much-needed result in light of that diagnosis.