Man City are only one game into their Premier League title defense, but they've already been dealt an enormous blow.
Opening day of the English Premier League season got off to a pretty normal start for the reigning champions. Erling Haaland slotted in the first goal of the year in just the fourth minute, and Man City were looking sharp against newly-promoted Burnley.
Then, just around the 20-minute mark, disaster struck. Newly-minted team captain Kevin De Bruyne went to the ground, and appeared to be in significant pain before being forced to exit the match. The injury looked bad from the second it happened, striking fear into the hearts of all City fans, and fans across the beautiful game. Nobody would wish for a Premier League season without perhaps the best player in the competition's history.
Man City Gets Concerning Injury Update on Kevin De Bruyne
Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
On Tuesday August 15, those fears were more or less confirmed; reports began spilling in that De Bruyne could miss anywhere from three months to the rest of the season, as surgery has been recommended to remedy a hamstring issue that has come up more than once for the Belgian playmaking superstar.
Drastic action like surgery might be the right move, as this is far from a new issue for De Bruyne, who has struggled with injuries in the past. Perhaps most notably, both of his Champions League final appearances have been cut short by injury. The Man City superstar exited at the 60th minute of City's loss to Chelsea back in 2021, and couldn't make it to halftime after picking up a knock in this past year's win over Inter Milan.
Whenever De Bruyne has gone down in a big match or missed a substantial period of time, City has looked like a completely different squad than the well-oiled machine we've come to know over the Pep Guardiola era, which could perhaps be just as aptly described as the De Bruyne era.
With Man City's best player sidelined for the foreseeable future, we'll see what the legendary manager is able to cook up for the rest of the season. It'll be interesting to see if City make a move to find a substitute while we're still in the transfer window, such as one for West Ham's Lucas Paquetá, or if Guardiola leans on City's existing and already-excellent depth to keep the squad afloat.
