Manchester City will miss Kevin de Bruyne for six weeks due to injury
Manchester City’s semifinal victory over Everton in the Capital One Cup didn’t come without cost. The Citizens will be without star midfielder Kevin de Bruyne for six weeks due to the injury he suffered at the hands of Ramiro Funes Mori in the clash with the Toffees.
It’s not an exaggeration at all to say that de Bruyne has been City’s best player on the season. He’s scored five goals and contributed an eye-popping nine assists in just 19 appearances on the year. His Whoscored.com player rating of 7.44 is tops for Manuel Pellegrini’s side as well. He’s been a danger no matter where he’s been deployed in the City lineup.
Most often, he’s been played as a right-sided attacking midfielder. When playing out wide he is a danger to contribute with long shots on goal or timely crosses into the box. He’s the full package when his side has the ball and is on the attack.
More from Playing for 90
- Alexia Putellas reaches 400 games with Barcelona
- Everything you need to know ahead of the 250th ‘Super Clásico’
- Barcelona put five past Real Betis
- Manchester City suffer but come away with win over West Ham
- Baffling Liga MX ruling strips Puebla of a hard-earned victory
The majority of the minutes he’ll vacate will be picked up in a like-for-like swap with winger Jesus Navas. The Spanish attacker has his talents, but plays a much different game than his Belgian teammate. Navas operates almost exclusively in wide areas where he tries to find room to send dangerous crosses into the box. While he can create for others, he’s almost no threat to score for himself.
Navas can only replicate a select portion of what de Bruyne does for Manchester City. As a result, a lot of the load will fall to the feet of Raheem Sterling and David Silva during his six-week absence. They’ll need to pick up the slack if the City attack is going to keep humming along.
More from Manchester City
- Manchester City and their enigmatic coach stand on the cusp of greatness
- Three challenges Manchester City might face in upcoming season
- 3 potential destinations for Raheem Sterling next season
- Manchester City officially announce Erling Haaland signing
- Gabriel Jesus set for Manchester City departure
Sterling will be relied upon more than ever. Too many times this season he’s been more of a luxury player for Manuel Pellegrini. He takes possession of the ball and if he creates something, great, but there’s no real pressure for him to contribute. In the absence of de Bruyne he’ll have to make sure all that style leads to substance. He will need to work well with Navas and Silva to interchange and make the City attack difficult to predict.
The most pressure in de Bruyne’s absence will fall on David Silva. Whereas Navas and Sterling will do most of their work out wide, Silva will be the man operating in the center of the pitch. He won’t be able to count on de Bruyne to switch play with him throughout the match so he’ll need to be switched on for all 90 minutes. He certainly has the quality to dominate the game from the number 10 role, but he’s struggled to assert himself due to injury this season.
No one man can cover Kevin de Bruyne’s absence for Manchester City. It’s going to take a group effort from attacking midfielders David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Jesus Navas to cope with his six-week absence.