It was the news that every Manchester City fan didn't want just a week into the new season - an injury to their brilliant playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian suffered knee ligament damage in training on Wednesday and initial reports suggested he could be missing until Christmas.
However a Belgian journalist has tweeted that the player will not need surgery following an initial consultation with City's Barcelona-based specialist Dr Cugat.
Such is the importance of the one City fans affectionately call KDB, the odds of Pep Guardiola's men winning another Premier League title lengthened slightly. As well as scoring some outstanding goals last term, De Bruyne was one of Europe's most creative players providing a bagful of assists making him a popular choice for Fantasy Premier League players.
De Bruyne was sidelined in the 2015/16 season too where he had to sit out two months because of knee and ankle ligament damage.
Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur, who was one of the first reporters to tweet about the player's initial injury says eight to 10 weeks is the anticipated recovery time for a lateral ligament sprain.
The City website also posted a staement today that read: "Manchester City can confirm Kevin De Bruyne has suffered a lateral collateral ligament (LCL) lesion in his right knee. No surgery is required, and the midfielder is expected to be out for around three months. Everyone at City wishes him a speedy return to action and mancity.com will bring you updates on his progress as we get them."
Manchester City are not short of replacements for De Bruyne and it could be the perfect opportunity for summer signing Riyad Mahrez to make his case for a regular starting spot. Another player who could step up to the plate is German Ilkay Gundogan who weighed in with six goals in all competitions last season.
