Pep Guardiola reveals Nathan Ake return date following Manchester City defender’s foot surgery | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is expecting Nathan Ake to be out of action for around 10 to 11 weeks after undergoing foot surgery this week.

After recent wins over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup, Manchester City next face Nottingham Forest in a top-four top-flight clash at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.

Nathan Ake was hauled off at half-time in Manchester City’s most-recent 3-1 FA Cup fifth round win over Plymouth Argyle last weekend, and the Dutchman underwent surgery on his foot in the days that followed.

A recent post on the 30-year-old’s official social media channels and Manchester City’s club website has since confirmed that the centre-back will be on the sidelines for an extended period as he focuses on rehabilitation.

Ahead of the trip to Nottingham on Saturday afternoon, Pep Guardiola confirmed that Nathan Ake will be out of action for around 10 to 11 weeks as the Manchester City boss awaits the return of his versatile defensive star.

“When you go to surgery, it’s because it’s something wrong that happened. But what is important is it’s done.

“He’s struggled a lot this season with problems in his feet and it’s happened,” the 54-year-old said in a press conference on Friday.

Nathan Ake’s absence and the recent injury issues that have marred Manchester City’s season are likely to see January signing Abdukodir Khusanov partner Ruben Dias in central defence against Nottingham Forest.

Josko Gvardiol continues to operate at left-back and Vitor Reis has been used scarcely by Pep Guardiola with a desire to let the Brazilian develop physically and spend further time training with the first-team before he can become a more regular starting feature.

Manchester City can pick up a third straight win on Saturday and Pep Guardiola will know there is little margin for error between now and the end of the season for the four-in-a-row Premier League champions in their bid to finish in the top-four.