Pep Guardiola has teased he could hand a debut to Ruben Dias this weekend against Leeds United.
Leeds host Man City in the Premier League on Saturday evening, with Marcelo Bielsa going up against Guardiola for the first time in England.
Both have new signings to consider for selection, with Guardiola weighing up throwing Dias in.
City have moved to sign Dias from Benfica this week in a deal worth £65m.
It’s been a sluggish start to the season for City defensively and they lost 5-2 to Leicester City last weekend. Three members of their back-four conceded a penalty at the Etihad in a remarkable defensive display.
Aymeric Laporte returned in the League Cup in midweek to help City keep a clean sheet against Burnley and he, plus Dias, will be in contention to face Leeds.
Guardiola teased that he might be involved (Sky Sports Transfer Centre, 02/10, 14:39):
We are delighted to have him here. He trained two sessions. He’s settled good and is part of the team. We will see.
City were so poor defensively last week. We could’ve had a field day against their back-four.
However, it does seem that the centre-back pairing of Eric Garcia and Nathan Ake will be second choice this season. Dias and Laporte are the two Guardiola will want in there long-term.
And, why not try that this Saturday? We are a side that likes to get forward and Guardiola will be aware of that, so he needs his best defenders playing.
Dias is a £65m player and he underlines the level City are at.
Whatever defence Guardiola goes with this weekend, City will be heavy favourites against us.
Fingers crossed we can just give a good account of ourselves, like we did at Anfield.