Manchester City lost star defender Aymeric Laporte to what seems to be a knee injury during their routine win against Brighton on Saturday.
Injuries like this never look good for a player and you could tell straight away from the player’s reaction and the reaction of his teammates that it may take a while before we see the Frenchman on the pitch again.
It is especially a tough pill for him as he just earned his first call up to the France squad at the age of 25.
No official word has been given on the severity of the injury yet so we just have to wait and see.
If they do lose the player for several months rather than weeks, it will mean that they will be losing their best defender and arguably the second-best in the League.
He was an ever-present last year in City’s defence whether at centre-back or at left-back, he was pivotal to any and all of their success last season.
He has played every minute of this season as well and he has been very good from the off.
Asides his defensive duties, Laporte has been really important in their build-up play.
He leads all players in the league in passes completed (302) and all the central defenders in total touches (356) this season according to the Premier League’s stats index. His 93% passing accuracy makes him top of all defenders in that regard as well. Only Rodri has a better passing accuracy than Laporte in the Manchester City team.
Defensively, he leads the team in aerial battles won with 10 successful aerial challenges and he also leads his team in interceptions with 8 successful. He has the second-most clearances (9) behind defensive partner Nicholas Otamendi (12).
Defence is a part of this talented City team that does not have a lot of depth and coverage but the good news is John Stones will return by the time they travel to Norwich after the international break.
Fernandinho may also feature in central defence as he did on Saturday if need be.
With the absence of Laporte from the defence, they will hope that Stones can continue from where he stopped this season and remain fit as well because they can not afford another injury in that position.
