Benjamin Mendy injury rules Manchester City star out for NINE months out with ruptured ACL
The £49.3m France ace has been to see a specialist in Barcelona after hobbling off in first half of weekend win over Crystal Palace
MANCHESTER CITY have confirmed Benjamin Mendy will undergo surgery after rupturing knee ligaments - meaning the France ace faces NINE MONTHS out.
The £49.3million signing will now go under the knife in Barcelona tomorrow after hobbling off in the first half of Saturday's 5-0 thrashing of Crystal Palace.
A City statement read: "Manchester City FC can confirm that Benjamin Mendy has ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
"Benjamin will undergo surgery tomorrow in Barcelona, and everyone at the Club wishes him a speedy recovery."
Pep Guardiola's pal Dr Ramon Cugat saw Mendy, having previously helped heal Vincent Kompany, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne last season.
In comes as a "major set-back" to Guardiola, who went all out to sign Mendy from Monaco in the summer.
The City boss will now have to rely on Danilo and Fabian Delph until he can buy again in January.
Speaking after the 2-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk, Guardiola said: "Our first impression is that it will it be a little long, longer than we expected.
"It is very frustrating for him first as a person.
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"Like with Ilkay Gundogan last year, I feel sorry for him. We would miss him a lot, it would be a major setback."
Asked if City may buy a replacement, Guardiola added: “We will see. We thought about next summer about looking for another left-back.
“We have Danilo, Delph and Zinchenko who can play there so we will see as we go along.”