PREMIER LEAGUE
Kevin De Bruyne makes Manchester City return against Sheffield United: how many games did he miss?
The Belgian, who injured a hamstring on the opening weekend of the Premier League season, was a surprise inclusion on the bench against The Blades.
Pep Guardiola fooled us all. In his pre-match conference ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League game against Sheffield United on Saturday, the former Barcelona head coach claimed “nothing had changed from the last game”, the victory over Everton, and the current Champions League holders had “the same injuries, plus John Stones.” The England defender would therefore join Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku on the sidelines.
De Bruyne named as a substitute against The Blades
Or so we were led to believe. When the City line-up to face The Blades was revealed an hour before kick-off, most eyes were drawn to the list of substitutes, where De Bruyne’s name stood out like a sore thumb. Although Guardiola had revealed the Belgian was back in training and closing in on his return to action, nobody expected it to come in 2023.
How long was the Belgian injured for?
The 32-year-old hasn’t played a single second of soccer since the opening weekend of the Premier League season, when he was forced off against Burnley after just 23 minutes on 11 August. The initial prognosis was De Bruyne would be out for “a few weeks”, but his absence due to a hamstring injury has ultimately spanned more than four months.
City handed Premier League and Champions League boost
During that time, the playmaker has sat out a total of 27 matches, including 17 league fixtures, the entire 2023-24 Champions League group stage, the UEFA Super Cup, the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United and the FIFA Club World Cup. City have managed to win two (minor trophies) without him, but De Bruyne’s return will give them a huge boost as they look to become the first team to win four consecutive Premier League titles and just the second, after Real Madrid, to win the current version of the Champions League in successive seasons.
Since joining Manchester City in 2015, De Bruyne has scored 96 goals in 358 appearances and won 14 trophies, including five Premier Leagues and five Leagues Cups, as well as last season’s Champions League.