Kevin De Bruyne likely to be out for two months

Midfielder doesn't require surgery following knee injury

Kevin De Bruyne is expected to be missing for around two months, after suffering a knee injury during training on Wednesday. The Belgian midfielder attended the premiere of All or Nothing, the new Amazon documentary about City, on crutches that evening and yesterday travelled to Barcelona for tests.

It is believed that he has suffered a lateral ligament strain, which usually results in 8-10 weeks recovery time but will not require surgery, following a consultation with Dr Ramon Cugat.

Whilst representing a blow to City's hopes of becoming the first Premier League team for a decade to retain the title, the prognosis is perhaps not as bad as first feared. The player's agent, Patrick De Koster, said "It happened in training while he was standing on his own - he wasn't involved in a challenge. It was an unfortunate accident. He said it felt the same as it did two years ago", referring to the injury De Bruyne suffered against Everton in 2016.

Games that De Bruyne could miss:

19/08/2018 Huddersfield Town H
25/08/2018 Wolverhampton Wanderers A
01/09/2018 Newcastle United H
15/09/2018 Fulham H PL
22/09/2018 Cardiff City A PL
29/09/2018 Brighton & Hove Albion H
07/10/2018 Liverpool A
20/10/2018 Burnley H