Manchester City have been handed an injury boost due to the return of a player who has been sidelined since October last year.
Mateo Kovacic has not had the best fortune since joining Manchester City from Chelsea, at least when it comes to picking up injuries anyway.
The midfielder was required to have achilles tendon surgery, which kept him out of action from pre-season until October.
Kovacic had only been back less than a month when he suffered yet another injury, this time concerning his ankle.
This has caused the 31-year-old to miss 31 games for his club, but it seems he has finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
Mateo Kovacic is training with Man City
Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media ahead of Manchester City’s FA Cup tie against Newcastle and he has revealed some good news about Mateo Kovacic.
The Croatian has been training with the first-team and already has multiple sessions under his belt.
However, Guardiola has been clear that Kovacic will need some time before he is back to peak fitness levels.
The City manager said in his press conference: “Great news! Finally he’s back, training the last three or four sessions. Still, for his physical condition, he needs time.
“But the most important [thing], after second surgery in his ankle, it’s much, much better than the first. Maybe he can give us good quality until the end of the season.
“He needs a little bit more training sessions. It’s been almost Fulham [last season], made a surgery, came back a little bit, but he was not fully, fully fit. And now after many, many months he’s back.”
Man City need their whole squad to contribute
Every returning player is a massive boost to Man City, as their impending matches could cause the difference between a season of silverware and one of no success.
City have a vital FA Cup clash tonight and that will be followed with a massive Champions League tie against Real Madrid.
So it is very much a case of, the more players available, the better and this is especially true of someone as experienced as Kovacic.
