News of Aymeric Laporte’s club record move from Atheltic Bilbao to Manchester City will have been tainted by news that Leory Sane is out for up to six weeks.
The horror tackle inflicted on the German international by Joe Bennett, however unintentional, has damaged ankle ligaments and it could have been a lot worse.
The Cardiff left-back’s desperate lunge could prove costly to Guardiola’s team as they are still fighting on four fronts with some crucial games ahead.
Whilst Sane has come in from criticism from some quarters, particularly for his distribution and ball retention, there is no doubt he is a big game player who can win a match in an instant.
Pep Guardiola has now confirmed he could be out for six weeks and would therefore miss crucial games including, the league cup final against Arsenal, the Champions League last 16 ties against Basel and Premier League games against Chelsea and Arsenal.
The question for Guardiola is what he does to compensate the loss. The Spaniard has come in for some deserved praise for his reaction to losing key players this season, particularly where Fabian Delph and Oleks Zinchenko are concerned.
The arrival of Laporte along with the expected return to fitness of forward Gabriel Jesus could see Guardiola revert to the 3-5-2 formation that bore so much fruit in the early weeks of the season.
Benjamin Mendy is believed to be ahead of schedule as he recovers from an ACL injury and could be back by March.
This could mean Guardiola opts for the three-man defence of Laporte, Otamendi and Stones with Walker and Zinchenko as wing backs.
This would allow him to pair up Aguero with Jesus which led to so many goals for City.
Whatever the outcome Guardiola will hope City can find a way to carry on their impressive form and will hope that all his key players return for the run in as City hope to go deep into three cup competitions as well as maintain their impressive league form.
It would be a real boost for City to enter the final run in with Mendy, Delph, Jesus and Sane fit and ready.
Please #welcomeaymeric to the Club!
