Pep Guardiola capable of dealing with absence of injured Kevin De Bruyne, says Craig Bellamy
If any manager can cope without Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola can, according to Craig Bellamy.
The Premier League champions have confirmed De Bruyne injured his right knee in training, with sources close to the player claiming he could be sidelined for up to four months.
De Bruyne is currently undergoing tests to discover the full extent of the injury.
Former City forward Bellamy acknowledged losing the 27-year-old for a prolonged period would be a huge blow to City’s title defence, but has backed Guardiola to deal with the setback.
„It’s sound crazy but they can cope without him,“ he told The Debate.
„You want to see De Bruyne playing but with the quality City have, the way the play and especially with the manager they have, if they need to tweak the system to suit the players who are available the best coach I’ve seen in England – Pep Guardiola – can.
„It’s a big loss for Manchester City but with the quality of players they have and the manager, I can see them being able to pick up the points without him.“
A two-month spell on the treatment table would see De Bruyne miss Premier League fixtures against Huddersfield, Wolves, Newcastle, Fulham, Cardiff, Brighton and Liverpool, in addition to the start of their Champions League campaign.
But due to an embarrassment of riches at Guardiola’s disposal, especially in De Bruyne’s position, Danny Higginbotham believes there are other players City would miss more than the Belgium international.
He added: „Guardiola can transform players, so he’s got plenty of players that can go and play in that position.
„Bernardo Silva has started the season very well, he can fit into there. Ilkay Gundogan is another, Riyad Mahrez can come inside as well and play in those position.
„Guardiola has got an embarrassment of riches but because he’s such an open-minded manager and players can play in a number of positions, he will be able to fill the void.
„De Bruyne is obviously going to be a big miss, but City can deal with it. When you look at most of the top teams in the Premier League, they got the odd player of the quality of De Bruyne – City have got three or four.
„Because of the quality City have got in that position, bizarrely enough, there are other players who could be more missed than De Bruyne, not because of quality but because of strength in depth.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is €100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus €100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
