Roberto Mancini’s masterplan for Manchester City has been put on hold again after two of his summer signings have suffered delays in their return from injury.
The Blues had hoped to have left back Aleksandar Kolarov back in action at Blackpool on Sunday, which would have meant the manager could field what appears to be his first-choice back four for the first time.
And Mancini had predicted that another new boy, Mario Balotelli, would be ready for his second City appearance a week later, against Arsenal.
But Kolarov’s progress as he recovers from ankle ligament damage has been slower than he expected – and the Blues’ medical staff have tentatively pencilled in the trip to Wolves on October 30 as a possible new return date.
The Serbian said at the start of the month that he expected to beavailable for selection “after the international break” after a frustrating start to his City career.
He played 45 minutes of the opening day Premier League draw at Tottenham before being forced out of the action.
He is now back running and doing some ball work, but is not yet ready for full contact training, and is expected to be close in a fortnight.
The news on Balotelli, also seen as a key man in the manager’s vision of City’s future, is similar. He is battling to be ready for the visit to West Brom on November 7, which is quickly followed by the Manchester derby three days later.
The Italy international damaged his knee meniscus during his goalscoring debut as a substitute away to Timisoara in the Europa League play-off.
He has since had knee surgery in his homeland, and suffered a setback early in his rehabilitation. But staff are now hopeful the problem is clearing well, and believe he will be back in three weeks.
There was better news regarding three more defenders. Micah Richards now fit again after a hamstring problem which has kept him out for a month, Jerome Boateng is over the flu bug which kept him out of Germany’s midweek win in Kazakhstan and Pablo Zabaleta is close to a return after his own hamstring problem.
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