Guardiola hopeful Bobb will return soon | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says Oscar Bobb ‘feels better’ now after a leg injury that has ruled him out since last August.

Bobb played in the Community Shield more than seven months ago before suffering a leg injury in training that has forced him to sit out the 2024/25 season to date.

The 21-year-old seemed set to build on his breakthrough 2023/24 campaign after an exciting pre-season before the setback.

Club to celebrate CITC in Brighton game

While he didn't make any suggestion about Saturday's game with Brighton, Guardiola now thinks the Norwegian playmaker is nearing a return to contention.

“I hope so,” he said when asked in Friday’s press conference if Bobb could feature after the upcoming international break.

“He’s training now regularly and feels really better. He played a friendly game yesterday with the second team because he has to be on the pitch.

WATCH: Pep Guardiola | City v Brighton press conference | Embargo section

“It’s difficult for me because all the people up front are available. We want to bring him some minutes and that’s why it’s going to happen. It’s difficult to dictate how he feels just in training.

“It’s good to see for himself in his mind he's fine and perfect and that he can do what he wants to do. Then he will have the same chances with the other ones to be in the team.”

Guardiola also backed Bobb’s fellow Academy graduate Rico Lewis in Friday’s press conference.

The 20-year-old Bury-born defender and midfielder has already played 36 times this season, surpassing his 27 appearances in each of the last two terms.

However, it’s set to be the first year in his fledgling career that doesn’t end with a Premier League winner’s medal and after winning four senior England caps in the autumn, he hasn’t been selected by Thomas Tuchel this time around.

Despite that, Guardiola says this season will help Lewis grow as a player and professional.

“Since pre-season he’s been always available no injury. I admire players who live 24 hours to be fit and ready and he’s done it since the pre-season,” began the boss.

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“He plays a lot of minutes and deserves it. Of course he can have more minutes and give us something really good.

“He’s so young, people forget how young he is and is a big success with the under-21s, the future of every player depends on them.

“Always he’s been confident, he’s so strong, he makes a mistake he’s present again in the action.

“He arrived like Phil and every time it’s Premier League, Premier League, Premier League, but this is also a reality of football. He’s living a season he hasn’t seen before. It’s tough.

“I’m pretty sure it’ll help him to realise wow, it can happen as well to have a bad season, bad moments. It’s how you react to that.”

City v Brighton app coverage

Our official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action from Manchester in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 13:45 (UK).

Toni Duggan and Steve Howey will be the guests on the latest Matchday Live show, offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Andy Morrison while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

Short highlights will be available from 19:00 (UK), whilst extended highlights and a full-match replay [available on CITY+] can be accessed from midnight.