Manchester City full-back Benjamin Mendy will miss up to 12 weeks after undergoing knee surgery, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
Mendy, 24, withdrew from the France squad over the international break with what was described by the French Football Federation (FFF) as “a sprained left knee and meniscus injury”.
City confirmed the injury-prone defender was operated on following medical checks at Dr. Ramon Cugat’s clinic in Barcelona and Guardiola has now revealed the expected lay-off to be between 10 and 12 weeks.
The setback comes as a bitter blow for Mendy, who had battled back to fitness this season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament in September 2017.
Mendy missed 42 City games last season after he ruptured the cruciate ligament in his right knee, returning at the end of April, and has made 11 appearances for Pep Guardiola’s side so far this season.
He has had injury problems this season as well, missing around a month of the season with a bruised metertarsal.
With Mendy set for a spell on the sideliines Guardiola could be forced to field makeshift left-back Fabian Delph at West Ham this weekend, with Danilo and Oleksandr Zinchenko other options for the City boss.
Benjamin Mendy has arrived back at Manchester Airport on crutches after undergoing knee surgery in Barcelona.
The City full-back flew back into Manchester on Thursday as he prepares to continue his rehabilitation at the Etihad Campus.Mendy arrived back in a pink hoodie but did take the hood down to unveil his new hair style, following in Sergio Aguero’s footsteps by dying his hair grey.