Portugal announce that Manchester City midfielder Matheus Nunes has withdrawn from the national team squad due to injury.
Portugal have announced that Manchester City midfielder Matheus Nunes has withdrawn from the national team squad due to injury.
The 25-year-old was initially selected in Roberto Martinez‘s squad ahead of Euro 2024 qualifiers against Liechtenstein and Iceland over the next five days.
However, Nunes has been “declared clinically unfit” after undergoing tests by Portugal’s medical team and has therefore withdrawn from the squad.
Portugal have not specified Nunes’s injury, but reports have suggested that the midfielder has sustained a muscle problem which forced him to miss training on Wednesday.
Nunes, who has been capped 11 times by Portugal, is expected to return to Manchester and link up with the rest of the City squad who are not on international duty and begin his recover from injury.
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Nunes joined Man City on the final day of the summer transfer window for a reported £53m following one season at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The box-to-box midfielder is yet to have established himself as a first-team regular under Guardiola as has he has only started five of his 12 appearances for the Citizens across all competitions, registering two assists.
Nevertheless, Nunes remains firmly within Guardiola’s plans this term, and his withdrawal from international duty comes as another blow to Man City who have already seen three other first-team players pull out from representing their country this month due to injury.
Last Sunday, Nathan Ake – who missed City’s 4-4 draw with Chelsea – was forced to withdraw from the Netherlands squad after sustaining an unspecified injury in training.
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Mateo Kovacic and Ederson both featured in last weekend’s draw at Stamford Bridge, but they have also pulled out of the Croatia and Brazil squads respectively due to injury.
All three players along with Nunes have emerged as doubts ahead of Man City’s important top-of-the-table Premier League showdown against Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on November 25.
Guardiola is also having to cope without Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Gomez and John Stones, the latter of whom recently picked up a fresh muscle injury and is facing “a while” on the sidelines.
Gomez has missed City’s last two games with an ankle problem, while De Bruyne’s recovery from a long-term hamstring injury is “going very well”, although the playmaker is not expected to return until the New Year at the earliest.
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