Pep Guardiola hands Manchester City fitness update ahead of Wolves opener | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has provided an update on his squad’s fitness ahead of their 2025-26 Premier League opening clash against Wolves on Saturday evening.

City kick off the new season with a trip to the Molineux Stadium this weekend after a brace from new signing Tijjani Reijnders helped the Blues to a 3-0 win in their pre-season friendly against Palermo in Italy last week.

Guardiola has welcomed six new arrivals at the Etihad Stadium this summer and all eyes will be City as they aim to reclaim the Premier League title from Liverpool after a third-place finish in the previous campaign – with their lowest points tally in the league under Guardiola (71).

Rayan Ait-Nouri has impressed in pre-season after joining City from Wolves for £31 million in June, with the Algeria international set to make his full Premier League debut for the Blues against his former club this weekend.

Manchester City suffered a major fitness blow at the FIFA Club World Cup in June as Ballon d’Or holder Rodri succumbed to an injury setback – following a brief return to match fitness after a lengthy ACL layoff – that is expected to keep the 29-year-old midfielder from full fitness in the opening months of the new season.

Mateo Kovacic underwent surgery on his Achilles in the days after Manchester City’s final Premier League game of the 2024-25 campaign away at Fulham. The Croatian is stepping up recovery but himself remains out of contention till October.

John Stones has returned to full fitness after a frustrating 2024-25 campaign that prevented the 31-year-old Englishman from staking a regular claim in Guardiola’s starting XI owing to recurring niggles and injury troubles that raised questions over his future at the Etihad Stadium – as he now enters the final year of his contract.

Phil Foden, Claudio Echeverri and Josko Gvardiol did not make the trip to Sicily for last weekend’s pre-season win over Palermo owing to fitness concerns. Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s trip to Wolves, Guardiola has issued an update on his side’s fitness.

Guardiola has confirmed that Gvardiol and Kovacic remain injured and will not make the trip to the Molineux Stadium, with Foden and Rodri fit and set to be included in the matchday squad for the opening game of the season.

On Rodri, Guardiola said: “He’s so soon to coming back, but what is important is his knee is perfect. Now he needs to bring minutes in training sessions, and if possible in the games. What we want is he doesn’t come back and takes a step back. That would be not good!”

Savinho suffered an injury in the pre-season win over Palermo last week, Guardiola stated, with the 21-year-old attracting interest from Tottenham and set to miss Saturday’s game.

Ederson is also struggling with fitness, Guardiola said, and will not travel with the Manchester City squad to face Wolves as the 31-year-old himself faces an uncertain future at the Etihad Stadium amid strong interest from Galatasaray.