In preparation for Saturday’s match against Nottingham Forest, Manchester City player Jack Grealish was spotted back in practise on Wednesday.
The former Aston Villa player was forced to withdraw from the England camp earlier this month and has missed City’s last three games due to injury. After his team’s 3-1 victory over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola predicted that the attacker may be sidelined for up to 10 days. Less than a day later, the player was seen returning to practise.
On Wednesday, City shared several photos of its first-team players putting their skills to the test on social media, including one of Grealish, who appeared to be participating in a full-contact practise. Additionally, the 28-year-old posted pictures from his workouts to his Instagram account.
As a result, Grealish might be able to rejoin the City team for the match against Forest this Saturday, though Guardiola might be tempted to start with Jeremy Doku and Phil Foden in the wide positions to give Grealish more time to acclimatise to competitive play.
But on Tuesday, Bernardo Silva had to be replaced due to an injury, and Guardiola said after the game that the Portugal international will probably miss the “next games.” This limited City’s choices in the wide areas. The City manager said that Mateo Kovacic is nearing a comeback while also confirming that John Stones needs more time to recuperate from a recent injury.
Guardiola has five injury concerns going into the Forest match, which is especially concerning given City’s very short roster size and Kevin De Bruyne’s chronic hamstring ailment. With so many absences, the former Barcelona manager acknowledged on Tuesday that he is “in trouble.”
“It will be difficult to sustain that for a long time when we have five important players — really important players — injured,” stated Guardiola. But that is how things are. However, we do not have the funds for 55 players’ salaries, spending, or transfers. The clubs would be in disarray and go bankrupt. It occurs occasionally.