Daily Times

England midfielder Phil Foden will miss the start of Manchester City’s Premier League title defence with the foot injury he picked up during Euro 2020.

Foden, 21, is likely to miss City’s first three league games – against Tottenham, Norwich City and Arsenal.

The midfielder is also a doubt for England’s 2022 World Cup qualifier against Hungary in September.

“It has been really difficult for me personally – I want to get back on the pitch as soon as possible,” said Foden.

“Picking up a foot injury just before the final, it was a strange one. I was just training and it happened. I just twisted my foot. It was unfortunate.”

Foden expects to be back in “around four weeks”, which could mean his first Premier League match of the season could be on Saturday, 11 September against Leicester City.

Pep Guardiola has confirmed City will also start the season without Kevin de Bruyne, 30, as the midfielder injured his ankle during Belgium’s Euro 2020 quarter-final loss to Italy.

Last season, City won the Premier League and reached the Champions League final – and Foden expects their title defence to be a challenging one.

“Us being Premier League champions, it is going to be even harder to do that this year,” he said.

“Every team is going to be trying hard to beat us. We know we have to be at our best every game. That is the standard we set. We want to repeat last season and try to win the league.”