Double Manchester City injury concern as two first-team stars withdraw from international duty | OneFootball

Manchester City’s November international break has started just as the latest round of club duties ended with fitness and injury news dominating proceedings.

Pep Guardiola’s side have come into the latest pause for national team duties off the back of a four-game run that has seen Manchester City lose in succession across the Carabao Cup, Premier League, and UEFA Champions League.

The concerning run of form endured by the Premier League champions also coincides with a challenging string of injuries mounting within Guardiola’s squad, adding to longer-term issues picked up by Rodri and Oscar Bobb earlier in the campaign.

Ruben Dias and John Stones remain sidelined through a muscular issue and foot problem respectively and have subsequently been excluded from national team call-ups, whilst Jack Grealish’s recent return to training activities has seen him selected by England.

It remains to be seen how many other Manchester City players will take the decision to rest their bodies during the national team pause, but for now the Etihad Stadium club have already seen two names withdraw from duties due to a lack of necessary fitness for the next two weeks.

As confirmed by the Portuguese Football Federation on Monday morning, Manchester City’s wide-attacking star Matheus Nunes withdrew from representing his country as he was deemed ‘not medically fit’ by doctors.

Elsewhere, a similar fate was endured by Manuel Akanji as the Swiss international pulled out from action having missed Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion due to a lack of fitness and has not been deemed ready for national team duties.

Speaking after defeat on the south coast, Pep Guardiola told reporters on Akanji’s situation, “Manu said [on Friday], ‘I felt so bad in the training session and I could not move properly’, and against that team [Brighton] I prefer fresh people.”

Switzerland confirmed in a statement on Monday via their national team website that Akanji would be among four players unavailable for the latest break via an adductor problem, alongside Denis Zakaria, Dan Ndoye, and Pascal Loretz.