Kevin De Bruyne named on Man City bench for Sheffield United clash

Kevin De Bruyne has returned to the Manchester City bench for Saturday's meeting with Sheffield United.

The Belgian midfielder has not played since the opening week of the current campaign, when he suffered a nasty hamstring problem on just his second competitive outing since recovering from a similar problem picked up in last season's Champions League final.

De Bruyne began training with City while they were away for the Club World Cup and has now forced his way back on to the bench for Saturday's game against Sheffield United.

"Being injured is not good for anyone but I think for his mind it will have been good to have a few months off," Guardiola said ahead of the game. "What he loves is playing football but it's been a long injury, it was major surgery and muscular so we have to be careful. It looks like you are perfect but you are not.

"It's how many minutes he can handle and do it step by step. It's not playing 90 minutes then three days later another 90 and another - after that you'd be in trouble."

While De Bruyne was celebrating his return to the matchday squad, one player who remains on the sidelines is striker Erling Haaland.

The prolific Norwegian has missed several games with a "stress injury" in his foot - a problem manager Pep Guardiola has tried to avoid discussing, although the boss has confirmed there are no broken bones.

Guardiola declined to give an update on Haaland's condition ahead of the game but simply told his pre-match press conference that "nothing has changed" in regards to his side's current list of absentees.

Haaland remains sidelined alongside winger Jeremy Doku and versatile defender John Stones.

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