According to the Daily Mirror, Pep Guardiola has admitted that he cannot rely on Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany to stay completely fit for next season.
Kompany recently made his fifth start in a row against Crystal Palace and managed to score his second goal in four league games to help his team to a 5-0 win.
Guardiola has heaped praise on Kompany’s impressive form and the impact he has had on the team, but has admitted that City must “cover our backs” by signing a new centre-back in the summer. Among his targets are Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus and Antonio Rudiger of Roma.
When asked if he would be confident going into next season with Kompany’s fitness record, Guardiola had this to say:
“When he’s in that form, there’s no doubt about that, but we have to cover our backs. We cannot give all of our confidence he will be fit, because of what we’ve experienced in the last few years.”
“We have to have back-ups if something happens but, of course, with Vincent in that form it’s great. It was a huge step. When we spoke at the beginning of the season, we said the first step was ‘don’t put pressure on him, be able to train regularly and play one game'”.
“After that game, then another one and after that, another one. And he did it and for 90 minutes. And that happened a long, long time ago. I’m pretty sure Manuel Pellegrini missed him a lot the last two seasons – and of course we missed him. He’s a real central defender.”
Kompany has stated he never felt his career was on the line, despite going through a difficult injury period for the past two seasons. This is what the Belgian had to say:
“The happiest I will be is when I can go through this corridor and nobody asks me about my fitness. We’ll see how long it takes you guys to forget about it. Of course I’m happy. My favourite place to be is on the pitch with those guys.”
I’ve watched them a lot from the stands and I’m really lucky that I still had the chance to get back if I did the right thing – and I’ve done that. It felt like it’s too early for me [to finish]. Maybe later, but for now I want to be where I was today”.
