Pep Guardiola confident of Gundogan return

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London, August 9: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is confident that Ilkay Gundogan will come back to playing one week from now subsequent to remaining an extensive spell on the sidelines with a knee injury.

The 26-year-old, who joined the two-time Premier League champions from Borussia Dortmund a year ago, just showed up 16 times before he endured cruciate tendon harm last season.

The Germany midfielder endured the blow amid his side's 2-0 triumph over Watford toward the end of last year and has spent the previous eight months recovering and experiencing an active healing schedule.

Gundogan is probably not going to make it in time for City's Premier League opener against Brighton and Hove Albion this Saturday, however, the 26-year-old may feature in a friendly with Spanish outlet Girona FC next week.

In an interview, Guardiola opened that Gundogan may get a playing time against Girona which is just three days after City's Premier League opener against Brighton only if he is given the approval to do as such by the club's medical board.

Guardiola said: "I think he's close to coming back. Maybe he'll get minutes in Girona. I don't know, we're going to ask the doctor because, of course, he was injured for a long time. We don't want to take any risks. He has to be strong but, of course, his quality is perfect for the way we want to play.

"He's a guy who plays in the middle and can be a holding midfielder or play in front. In those terms, we're so happy."