Man City's Cherki to miss two months with injury

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has confirmed French midfielder Rayan Cherki has been ruled out for two months through injury.

The 22-year-old signed in June for an initial fee of £30.45m from Ligue 1 side Lyon and scored on his Premier League debut in a 4-0 win at Wolves, before starting the loss to Tottenham last weekend.

Cherki was absent on Sunday when City were handed their second loss in a row with a 2-1 defeat at Brighton.

Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike will take Cherki's place in Didier Deschamps' France squad for September's World Cup qualifiers.

According to a post from France's official X account, external, Cherki has a "quadriceps tear".

The injury means he will miss the first Manchester derby of the new campaign on Sunday, 14 September.

Cherki was in the Lyon side beaten by Manchester United 5-4 in an enthralling Europa League encounter.

After joining City, he said he wanted to "kill" Manchester United when he next faced them.

"I [didn't] like [it] when Manchester United won the game against Lyon because I am a Lyonnais," said Cherki. "Now I am waiting for the game [to] kill them."