De Bruyne, Foden ‘out for a while’, to miss Community Shield

Manchester City midfielders Kevin de Bruyne and Phil Foden will be “out for a while” because of injuries, says boss Pep Guardiola.

De Bruyne, 30, suffered ankle ligament damage at the European Championship and played with a tear in Belgium’s quarter-final defeat by Italy.

Foden, 21, missed out on England’s loss in the final because of a foot problem.

Record signing Jack Grealish will be on the bench for Saturday’s Community Shield match against Leicester City.

On Thursday, 25-year-old Grealish became the most expensive British player of all time by moving from Aston Villa to Man City for £100m.

Guardiola said: “He [Grealish] is not ready to start at all, he was one week training alone but he’ll travel with us tomorrow, to settle with the team, for meetings, and he will be on the bench and we’ll see what happens.

“After we’ll see what happens but from the beginning, no way.”

The Premier League champions come up against FA Cup winners Leicester in the curtain-raiser to the new season, with kick-off at 17:15 BST on Saturday.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers said it is “a fantastic game for us” and that he was “glad we are there”.

The ex-Liverpool boss added: “We won the FA Cup and against a very good side. It will be a wonderful occasion. Wembley, full house and a chance to get hold of something at the end of it. Manchester City are a fantastic team.”

The Foxes have injury issues in defence with Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans, James Justin and Timothy Castagne all out.

French defender Fofana added to Rodgers’ concerns after breaking his leg in a friendly against Villarreal on Wednesday and faces a significant spell out of action.

Rodgers added: “We are definitely light in the central defensive area. It is something we will have to look at for sure.

“There are people who are identified. We have a small list of players to look at so we will see.”

Leicester could give debuts to summer signings Patson Daka, Boubakary Soumare and Ryan Bertrand.

BBC Online