The injury that saw Leroy Sane hobble off during the Community Shield looks a nasty one.
The German flyer has potentially ‘damaged his ACL’ according to City correspondent Sam Lee, who tweeted the news last night.
As we know all too well, this type of injury can practically decimate a player’s season – as even when they’re over the worst of it – it’s nigh-on impossible to reach a peak level of fitness and play two times a week.
Although this is horrible news for Sane, a player we rate incredibly highly, City will be able to cope. They still have Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus as options for the front-three – as well as Phil Foden, David Silva and Kevin de Bruyne as potentials out-wide.
If one of Liverpool’s front-three picked up an ACL like Sane did, which by the way, occurred during a pretty innocuous challenge with Trent Alexander-Arnold, we’d be in serious trouble.
Jurgen Klopp has decided to take the risk of not securing high-level backup for Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah – and provided none of them pick up a nasty injury – we might just be ok.
But as Champions League holders, we are a target for teams who desperately want to beat us. Just look at how Sevilla played the summer friendly in America…
At some point this term, one (or likely more than one) of the trio will be unavailable – and then we’ll see if the likes of Xherdan Shaqiri, Divock Origi or Rhian Brewster can rise to the challenge.