'Excellent again' - Man City will miss Pep Guardiola favourite but they've found a new solution

It's not difficult to understand why Pep Guardiola loves Nathan Ake. The defender is versatile, reliable and never complains. He is a team man at Manchester City and in Guardiola's book, that is almost everything.

The 29-year-old has played only three minutes across two substitute appearances so far this season, but there is always a time when Ake is required, either at left-back or centre-back. Guardiola has called him a "proper defender" in the past and before Josko Gvardiol's arrival, Ake became a duel-winner supreme on the left, stopping Bukayo Saka and Mohamed Salah in their tracks.

He played second fiddle to Gvardiol last season but that versatility still meant he started the majority of games, beginning 35 of City's 59 matches. City have some excellent defenders but for Guardiola, Ake is right up there.

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“He is really good in the duels in the box, defending the far post and set pieces is an extra bonus," the City boss said in January 2023. "He is an exceptional guy, there was a period where he didn’t play and he never complained once."

It now looks like Guardiola will be without that "exceptional guy", a player as valuable on the training pitches as he is on a matchday. Ake missed 21 games with a hamstring injury between December 2020 and March 2021, but since then his absences have been limited to four or five games, with only one injury absence in the whole of last season.

Guardiola will offer an update on Ake on Friday but there must be fears he will face a decent spell on the sidelines having been stretchered off in tears during the