Wednesday 27 September 2017 16:58, UK
Manchester City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan has extended his support to team-mate Benjamin Mendy following the news his knee injury is worse than first expected.
Mendy, who sustained the injury to his right knee during Man City's 5-0 defeat of Crystal Palace, is set to fly to Barcelona on Wednesday to see a specialist.
While the extent of Mendy's injury is still unknown, manager Pep Guardiola confirmed his absence would be measured in months rather than weeks following his side's 2-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk.
The French international joined City from Monaco for a fee of £49.2m in July, but Guardiola admitted he could look for a replacement in January to fill the void at left-back.
Gundogan can sympathise with Mendy as he recently returned to first-team action after nine months on the sidelines following knee surgery.
"There's not really much to talk about at the moment but we wish him a very speedy recovery and we support him in every way," said Gundogan.
The Germany international suffered another injury setback on his return to football, coming off injured during City's third round League Cup game against West Brom.
But the injury turned out only to be a scare and he returned to action during City's 2-0 victory over Donetsk, coming off the bench in the second half.
Gundogan said: "I'm just happy that I returned that quickly after that hard tackle. I tried to train on the Friday and I still felt a little bit in my knee.
"On Saturday it was not possible to be in the squad but I trained on Sunday and Monday and I felt good, so I'm just happy to return that quickly."
