4 days ago
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Latest Manchester City news with an update on Mateo Kovacic's fitness
Mateo Kovacic has sent a three-word message to Manchester City fans as he continues to recover from Achilles surgery. The 31-year-old missed the Club World Cup and the start of pre-season after going under the knife following the end of the 2024/25 Premier League campaign.
Kovacic has travelled with the rest of his City teammates to Palermo for their final pre-season fixture on Saturday, but it's thought that the Croatian might still not return to action until October.
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder last featured for City against Bournemouth in May and he might not now feature again for at least another six weeks, giving Pep Guardiola more concerns in midfield.
While Kovavic continues to get back to full fitness, he has taken to Instagram to update supporters on his condition. Alongside a video of himself running on a treadmill, Kovacic wrote in a caption: "Back on track."
City's issues in central midfielder have now heightened with fears that Kovacic could be set for a sustained period out. Pep Guardiola declared on Friday that Rodri won't be fit until after the September international break.
Rodri tore his Anterior Cruciate Ligament last September and missed most of the 2024/25 campaign before returning in May. After featuring at the Club World Cup, City had hoped to have Rodri fresh and prepared for the 2025/26 season, but the former Atletico Madrid man won't be fit for the start of the season.
The Manchester Evening News reported earlier this week that Rodri had been doing individual work since Guardiola's players returned to the City Football Academy for pre-season training.
Rodri took part in City's training sessions on Thursday and Friday but was not included in the squad to travel to Palermo and there are doubts about his fitness going forward.
Guardiola still has hope that the Ballon d'Or winner can feature against Wolves, Tottenham and Brighton in City's opening three league fixtures but does not expect to see the best version of Rodri until September.
"Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al Hilal. He has trained better in the last few days, hopefully after the international break is when he will be really fit," Guardiola said.
"Hopefully in these games he can play some minutes but what is important is he doesn't have pain because we don't want this Rodri coming back injured. We try desperately to avoid that. He has been training the last two sessions with us and that's good."
Rodri is one of four City players that didn't travel to Palermo, with Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and Claudio Echeverri not fit. City travel to face Wolves in their first top-flight fixture next Saturday.
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