Aymeric Laporte faces a familiar challenge when he makes Man City return

Manchester City's defence could soon be back to full strength with the return of Aymeric Laporte.

The centre-back hasn't played a minute this season due to injury after undergoing knee surgery in May. It looked as if Laporte's campaign was over at the worst possible time last term, with less than three games to go and Liverpool still matching City stride for stride.

Pep Guardiola was already desperately low on defensive options due to injuries elsewhere, with Ruben Dias, John Stones and Kyle Walker all unavailable, forcing Fernandinho to reprise his role as an emergency centre-back. Laporte went off with an injury in the 5-1 over Wolves and City suddenly looked in deep trouble.

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But when the next match came around, there Laporte was, in the starting XI. The Spanish international bravely played through the pain when his side needed him most and helped drag them over the line to claim the title. If he hadn't have played, City might have lost out to their great rivals.

That selfless sacrifice has seen him miss all the action so far this season. Thankfully for City, Laporte is now back in training and should hopefully be able to return after the international break. But getting back into the team might not be quite as easy as that.

With Laporte sidelined and the lack of centre-back options made clear when the likes of Stones and Nathan Ake suffered injuries in the early days of this season, City moved to make a late addition to their squad and bring in some reinforcements. On deadline day, in came Manuel Akanji.

It was a last-minute, unplanned move that even took the former Borussia Dortmund man by surprise. The Bundesliga club had made Akanji available all