Man City news: Pep Guardiola reveals Vincent Kompany return is close

VINCENT KOMPANY is set to return to full training in the next seven to 10 days as he steps up his recovery from his latest injury setback.

15:23, Fri, Oct 27, 2017 | UPDATED: 15:40, Fri, Oct 27, 2017

Vincent Kompany GETTY

Vincent Kompany was injured whilst on international duty with Belgium in August

The Manchester City captain has been out of action since suffering a calf problem while playing for Belgium against Gibraltar in a World Cup qualifier on August 31.

City manager Pep Guardiola has ruled the centre-back out of their next three matches – at West Brom tomorrow, away to Napoli in the Champions League on Wednesday and at home to Arsenal a week on Sunday.

But he is hopeful that Kompany will be available when City pick up their season again at Leicester in the Premier League on November 18.

The 31-year-old went to Barcelona this week to be assessed by Ramon Cugat – Guardiola’s preferred specialist, who has also been looking after Benjamin Mendy as he recovers from knee ligament damage.

Kompany has returned with a positive diagnosis, and Guardiola is keen to get him back into the squad to provide defensive competition for John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.

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Pep Guardiola GETTY

Pep Guardiola sent Kompany to see a specialist in Barcelona

Vincent just travelled to see Ramon, to see how his injury is. In the next seven to 10 days, he’ll be coming back. It’s a muscular injury
Pep Guardiola

The City manager said: “Vincent just travelled to see Ramon, to see how his injury is. In the next seven to 10 days, he’ll be coming back. It’s a muscular injury.”

Guardiola is set to assess several of his players, including midfielder Ilkay Gundogan, before picking a squad to face West Brom in the Premier League at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

Gundogan was unable to take part in the penalty shoot-out at the end of Tuesday’s draining Carabao Cup fourth-round win over Wolves because he was struggling with cramp, and the manager is also concerned that others – such as Sergio Aguero – may also be feeling tired.

“After the game, they were so tired,” Guardiola said.

“There were problems with a lot of kicks and it was such a demanding game for us. We had a recovery day, yesterday we were off. Now the players have come in and we’ll see how they are.”