Manchester City have the strength in depth to cushion the blow of Kevin De Bruyne suffering a knee injury, according to Kyle Walker.
De Bruyne was City’s Player of the Season in 2017-18 after inspiring Pep Guardiola’s side to Premier League and EFL Cup glory but suffered a seemingly damaging setback in training on Wednesday.
The Belgium midfielder attended the Manchester premiere of Amazon Prime’s ‘All or Nothing: Manchester City’ documentary series on crutches and with a heavily strapped right knee after the incident.
City have not confirmed a timeframe for De Bruyne’s absence, although some reports suggest he could be out for as long as three months with a recurrence of the lateral ligament damage that sidelined him in early 2016.
“Kevin’s a great player and it’s just unfortunate that it’s happened to him in training, but there’s more than enough depth in the squad,” England defender Walker told reporters.
“We don’t just rely on one player. It’s a team game and whoever steps in will do well.
“Obviously it’s a big loss, but we’ve got more than enough cover.”
Bernardo Silva impressed in attacking midfield for City in the 2-0 Community Shield victory over Chelsea earlier this month and scored a superb game-sealing goal as the champions beat Arsenal by the same scoreline to launch their Premier League title defence last Sunday.
Namesake David Silva is yet to feature this term after the Spain great confirmed his international retirement, with Ilkay Gundogan starting alongside Bernardo Silva at Emirates Stadium.
Academy products Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz could also feature more prominently if De Bruyne is out for a prolonged period.
So influential was De Bruyne in City’s title campaign last season that he would most likely have been voted player of the season but for Mohamed Salah’s remarkable run of goals and performances that helped to carry Liverpool into the Champions League final.
With the transfer window already closed, losing their most gifted and versatile attacking performer for any length of time would be a blow to Guardiola and his team, though even if it were still possible to bring in a replacement City would have struggled to identify a player of the requisite quality. Manchester city p;lay their next league fixture against Huddersfield on Sunday having already beaten Arsenal 2-0 in the first League fixture played at the Emirates Stadium in London.