Guardiola: Mendy out for "long time"

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes Benjamin Mendy will be "out for a long time" with a knee injury, and says he may have to sign a replacement for the France defender in January.

Mendy was substituted after 29 minutes of Saturday's 5-0 win over Crystal Palace with knee ligament damage, and speaking after City's 2-0 Champions League win against Shakhtar Donetsk, former Barca boss confirmed the 23-year-old will miss Saturday's Premier League clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, a game which is live on BT Sport 1 [Kick-off 5.30pm]. 

"After tomorrow he is travelling to Barcelona and we are going to see. But I get the impression he will be out for a long time, unfortunately," Guardiola told BT Sport.

"It is very frustrating, firstly for him first as a person - it is very sad for him.  

"And, for the way we want to play, we will lose a lot. It is a major set-back.

 "He is a unique player. We will see in January about a new signing. We have alternatives."

Mendy will travel to Barcelona to visit specialist Dr Ramon Cugat on Thursday, and Ilkay Gundogan, who himself was sidelined for eight months with own knee injury, says his City team-mate will need the support of the whole squad over the coming weeks.  

"Of course, I spoke to him but not really about the situation. I think he's a guy who is most disappointed," Gundogan said.

"Our task now is to support him and just to be there if he needs something from us.

"I know how difficult these kinds of situations are. There's not really much to talk about at the moment.

"We just should try to behave as normal as possible. We wish him a very speedy recovery and we support him [in] every way." 

Second-half goals from Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling helped City maintain their 100 percent start to the season against the Ukrainian side, but Guardiola insisted City's next Group F opponents, Napoli, will prove difficult to beat and praised the efforts of Fabian Delph who was brought in to replace Mendy.

"Even at 1-0, we were stable. We did not score goals but it was a demanding game," the Spaniard continued. 

"The next game against Napoli will be even tougher. 

"Fabian Delph was man of the match. When a guy who is so kind and can help the team, he is intelligent, is physical and never loses the ball. He controlled Marlos and did it very well."

Man City's Premier League game against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, 30 September is live on BT Sport 1 on the eir Sport pack [kick off 5.30pm].

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