Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is back in first-team training after a long layoff with a knee ligament injury.
Manager Pep Guardiola is no doubt delighted to have the playmaker back in contention to start games and City’s official Twitter account have released a photo of the Spaniard laughing heartily whilst in conversation with the midfielder:
Kevin tells really good jokes… #mancity pic.twitter.com/LhnvVIeuBV
— Manchester City (@ManCity) 18 October 2018
Fans were taking turns at guessing what De Bruyne had said to the City boss:
KDB: “they say we will not win the league”
Pep:— Aziz | #2021 (@iiAziz7) 18 October 2018
Kevin: So Liverpool fans are saying it’s their year again
— jess x (@JessBarcroftx) 18 October 2018
“Sterling asks for the same salary as me… ”
— keiming227 (@keiming227) 19 October 2018
And then Romelu asked if I thought you fancied him coming to City
— Kevin ?? (@kevinharte62) 18 October 2018
“I heard Manchester was red”
— Steve Callaghan (@djstecallaghan) 18 October 2018
Kev: “No seriously, they offered Shaw £195,000 a week!”
Pep:— Matthew Kinsey (@MJKinsey_27) 18 October 2018
“And hazard thought he was the best player in the league!”
— ???????Reeves Guytoñ?? (@reevesg55) 18 October 2018
“I’m not the best player in the world”
— ? (@ThePepEra) 18 October 2018
when someone says Hazard > kdb
— Fianso (@thecitykun) 18 October 2018
The Belgian midfielder could be in line to play against Burnley at the Etihad this afternoon, although it’s probably likely that he’ll be eased back into things with the Manchester derby just around the corner.
De Bruyne hasn’t played since coming on as a substitute in the 2-0 win over Arsenal on the opening day of the season. He was expected to be back at some point next month but he has made a far quicker recovery than many had anticipated.