Wednesday heralded both good news and bad, as City celebrated the launch of the eagerly-awaited Amazon Prime documentary: All or Nothing with an early screening of episode one at Manchester’s Printworks - but the treat was tinged with concern after Kevin De Bruyne had suffered a knee injury in training in the afternoon.
READ: Kevin De Bruyne injury update
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The City players have had their say on the setback. Kyle Walker remained positive, hailing the Blues’ squad depth.
As the Daily Express report, the right-back told reporters: “Kevin is a great player and it’s just unfortunate that it’s happened to him in training.
“But there’s more than enough depth in the squad. We don’t just rely on one player.
“It’s a team game and whoever steps in will do well. Obviously, it’s a big loss but we’ve got more than enough cover.”
One of De Bruyne’s potential replacements is Ilkay Gundogan and the German midfielder told Omnisport he will be ready if called upon.
On De Bruyne, he reflected: “He played an incredible season [last season]. He had so much impact on our game. He was maybe the main man for us last season.
“He is very important. We all hope that it is not too serious so he can get back on the training field as soon as possible.”
Asked of his own fitness, he continued: “Yeah, I do feel fresh - maybe because the World Cup was also very short for us [Germany], unfortunately.
“But I do feel ready. I was able to play nearly a full season last season after having big injuries. It was tough.
“At the end, I look at my stats and I made about 50 games last season. It was a really good run for myself.
“So, I hope this one will be similar, especially in terms of the way we play and in terms of winning.”
Fernandinho told press De Bruyne is coping well.
Quoted in a Goal article, he said: “He’s OK. We don’t know yet what has happened and as soon as the doctor knows we will have the news.
“Of course, he has been so important for us last season and I hope he can get well soon to play football again as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Sportsman’s David Irwin believes Phil Foden could be handed more opportunities to shine, in the wake of Wednesday’s development.
He scribes: “Stockport native and lifelong City supporter Phil Foden has been nurtured by Pep Guardiola since his arrival at the Etihad, choosing to keep him at the club rather than ship him off on loan in search of more game time.
“The 18-year-old made five league appearances in Sky Blue last term, but his manager has already hinted that he could be set to take up a more prominent role this term.
“While Foden may have been expected to relinquish his shirt to De Bruyne upon his return to fitness after a post-World Cup break, a player of uncommon creativity and maturity for his age may now have a chance to establish himself at his boyhood club.
“He’ll have competition from the likes of Portuguese international Bernardo Silva and the newly-arrived Riyad Mahrez, both capable of playing centrally, but given the esteem in which his coach holds him, he may well be given an opportunity to step into the full-time, first-team, fray.
“While this responsibility would weigh heavy on the shoulders of any young player, Foden will have the unerring support of the City faithful, who hold him dear as a sole local face in a global footballing operation - a point that’s not lost on his coach.”
In brighter news, as mentioned, last night heralded the premiere of the long-awaited Amazon Prime documentary: All or Nothing, which of course captured a unique, fly-on-the-wall insight into City’s record-smashing 2017/18 campaign.
Amazon were given unprecedented access to the dressing room, training ground and manager’s office throughout the historic campaign, and conducted exclusive interviews with players and staff.
The eagerly-awaited eight-part series launches on Friday 17 August but the City team were treated to a special showing of the first episode at a blue-carpet event.
We’ll round up the critics’ reviews later today but for now, read De Bruyne’s reflection, courtesy of the BBC, as the Belgian dubbed the access-all-areas film: ‘as real as possible.’
“In the beginning it was a little bit awkward,” he admitted. “We are used to getting a lot of camera attention but mostly on the pitch.
“Behind the scenes, in training, there is not normally anything apart from the stuff that City themselves do.
“In the beginning it was a bit weird as you don’t know the people you are working with but then after time you forget they are there. They are there every single day, you get to know them and it becomes familiar.
“This programme you have to show it as real as possible. The good things, the bad things, maybe incidents, whatever. A life of anybody is not perfect, there is always things that happen and that is what makes it interesting.”
