Manchester City forward Oscar Bobb will be sidelined for three or four months after fracturing a bone in his leg, Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
It was reported on Wednesday that Bobb had suffered a leg injury in training and would undergo medical tests to discover the full extent of the problem.
He started all five of City s pre-season friendlies as well as their Community Shield victory over Manchester United, and was expected to keep his place for Sunday s Premier League opener at Chelsea.
However, Guardiola confirmed during Friday s pre-match press conference that the Norwegian will miss the first few months of the season, with City hopeful he will return before the turn of the year.
It was in the training session. Unfortunately, he had a big impact and got injured. He is having surgery this afternoon, Guardiola said.
Hopefully, it will go well and he will be back in three or four months.
We are so sad for him, not because of his incredible pre-season, that doesn t matter, but because we are any time there is a long injury. We are looking forward to seeing him again soon.
PEP [On Oscar Bobb s injury] It was in the training session. Unfortunately, he had a big impact and got injured. He is having surgery this afternoon. Hopefully, it will go well and he will be back in 3/4 months. We are so sad for him not because of his incredible pre-season,…
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Bobb made 26 appearances for City totalling 819 minutes in all competitions last season, with seven of those being starts.
He scored two goals and added one assist, netting a memorable stoppage-time winner in a thrilling 3-2 Premier League win at Newcastle United in January.
After City sold Julian Alvarez to Atletico Madrid for a club-record €95million (£81.5m) earlier this week, Guardiola was asked whether Bobb s injury left them short and needing to dip into the transfer market.
Maybe or maybe not, we will see. I m really pleased with the squad I have, we will see, he said.
I m set. We will see what happens in the market. We can continue to January in that way or maybe we will add some players.
