'They are close' - Pep gives update on Doku and Savinho progress

Both have missed several games with injury – Savinho has been absent for almost seven weeks and hasn’t played since New Year’s Day.

Doku had to be substituted during our Champions League win over Galatasaray a month ago, but both he and Savinho are closing in on a return.

“Jeremy is close,” said Pep.

“He still doesn’t train with us, but we will see. He’s a little better, but [against Salford] we needed wingers.

“We know how important he is. It helps us a lot in how we play. I’m more than delighted with how we behave.

“Antoine has played a lot of minutes, if you make shifts with Doku, Semenyo, Savinho, the opponents defend in their box for 90 minutes.

“That’s why everything was so difficult [on Saturday].”

Turning attention to Savinho, Guardiola believes when the 21-year-old adds more finesse to his end product, the sky is the limit for the Brazilian. 

“He’s been out for six weeks,” said Pep.

“He could  [have played] a few minutes, but we didn’t want to take risks. Training two days ago was wow, so good. He’s close.

“Now we have a long week and players coming back.

“Already Savinho, when he will learn to make the finished product he will be an unbelievable winger on both sides.”