Man City face Phil Foden injury wait before Premier League begins

3 days ago 55

Phil Foden did not travel to Palermo for Manchester City's final friendly of the summer after he picked up an ankle knock

Kolo Toure and Phil Foden
Phil Foden

Manchester City must wait before they know if Phil Foden will be available for their first Premier League game of the season. The 25-year-old missed the Palermo trip with an ankle injury and while it is not thought to be a big problem it may yet rule him out for another week.

Foden has looked more like himself this summer after a difficult year where he struggled with mental and physical burnout. The smile was back on his face at the Club World Cup where he scored three goals, and he looked energised in an open training session in front of fans on Tuesday in Manchester.

However, he was not named in a 22-man squad to travel to Sicily for City's final friendly before their 2025/26 campaign begins with a minor issue that could see him miss the trip to Molineux to play Wolves on Saturday. Pep Guardiola did not seem overly concerned with the problem, although admitted the decision to omit him for the Palermo game was more about risk.

"He has a problem in his ankle and that’s why we didn’t take a risk," the City boss said. "I don’t know [if he will play against Wolves]. It's just a knock - it was painful but he will be ready when he is ready."

Foden was one of four players to be left at home for fitness reasons. Rodri also stayed in Manchester as he continues his long road back to fitness, with Guardiola saying the Ballon d'Or winner is unlikely to get back to full fitness until after the first international break even if he plays before then.

Josko Gvardiol and Claudio Echeverri also didn't travel, while even though Mateo Kovacic did come out for the game he could be sidelined until October. The Croatian underwent surgery on an Achilles injury at the beginning of the summer but Guardiola is resigned to being without the midfielder for another two months.

Jack Grealish, James McAtee and Stefan Ortega were all left out as they look to complete a move away from the club. Everton have shown interest in Grealish while Forest and several German clubs have spoken to City about McAtee; Ortega's future was sealed when James Trafford was re-signed from Burnley two weeks ago.

Guardiola would like a smaller squad by the time the transfer window closes, with a number of exits yet to be finalised.

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