Kevin De Bruyne has boosted his chances of featuring against Liverpool in next week’s Carabao Cup tie as he returned to full Manchester City training on Tuesday.
The 31-year-old was one of 16 City players to jet off to this winter’s World Cup finals in Qatar. However, his chances of securing a first major international trophy with Belgium were dashed as a shock defeat to Morocco and a stalemate with Croatia saw Roberto Martinez’s side unable to qualify for the knockout rounds.
It meant that De Bruyne’s tournament was over on December 1. He and fellow members of the Red Devils’ 26-man contingent then made their way back home and handed a much-needed break ahead of joining up with their clubs in the forthcoming weeks.
During that time, manager Pep Guardiola and Manchester City ventured on a mid-season training camp to Abu Dhabi while the World Cup was played out in Qatar. But after returning to the City Football Academy this week, De Bruyne made a return to training on Wednesday morning and was pictured being put through his paces with the likes of Erling Haaland.
Back home 💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/fLAGg9fG6x
— Kevin De Bruyne (@KevinDeBruyne) December 14, 2022
Erling Haaland was also involved on Tuesday and looked sharp and raring to go. The Norwegian striker traveled to Abu Dhabi last week but spent some of the time training alone. He now looks to be back with the main group, which can only be a positive indication of his fitness.
Haaland was hampered by injuries in the weeks leading up to the World Cup break, but with Julian Alvarez set to feature for Argentina in the World Cup final on 18th December, the Norwegian will be City’s only senior striker available for the visit of Liverpool.
Ilkay Gundogan suffered a group-stage World Cup exit so he should return to training soon. Rodri and Aymeric Laporte are in the same boat after Spain crashed out at the round of 16 stage. City’s English and Portuguese representatives are not expected to be involved against Liverpool, but should be available for the league trip to Leeds on December 28.
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