Another Injury Sees Present Kompany Excluded

It’s seems as if the more things change the more things stay the same for Manchester City and Vincent Kompany as the Belgian international missed out of their 0-0 draw with Huddersfield yesterday in the F.A. Cup 5th Round tie at The Galpharm Stadium.

Once again it’s another injury setback for the 30 year old and again it raises question as to his long term future at the club. Kompany has been besegied by injuries over the past couple of seasons and the minutes on the pitch that he has managed during this campaign speaks volumes.

City’s captain has been dogged by a number of groin and calf injuries and has played only 341 minutes of football this season. With his role reduced to one which is almost that of a special guest this latest setback will only add to the frustration for both club and player.

Kompany has managed just six appearances all season but did manage a full 90 minutes in the clubs 4th round win over Crystal Palace. But it’s almost as if that was a false dawn for the man who captained them to their two recent Premier League successes in 2012 and 2014.

That’s because since then he has failed to add a single minute of game time to that already paltry figure and with this latest setback meaning no action yesterday that may very well edge him closer to the Etihad exit door come the end of the season.

Pep Guardiola is bit by bit turning this Manchester City side into a squad that he can truly call his own, that is something that is not going to happen in just two transfer windows but with more and more of the old guard from the Mancini and Pellegrini regimes falling by the way side. Kompany could arguably become the biggest casualty.

I say arguably as a lot will rest on whether or not Sergio Aguero will leave in the Summer now that the second coming of Jesus has arrived in Manchester. But for City they still seem a work in progress at centre back and going forward, Guardiola is going to require players he can consistently rely on.

And with Kompany’s ever growing injury list this is where he falls short. There is no denying what a servant he has been for the club but it looks like a combination of pure bad luck and his body letting him down are making it very hard for himself to get a foothold in the starting eleven.

And as a manager just how many chances can you give a player before you decide enough is enough. Perhaps because Kompany is not a Guardiola signing there is not going to be that same loyalty afforded to him in comparison to someone like Ilkay Gundogan.

Perhaps that is like comparing apples and oranges but my point is this, the crumbling of Kompany’s City career due to injhury may well give Guardiola the perfect excuse for him to hasten the departure of the former Anderlecht and Hamburg defender.

A kind of power play that says that this is my era now and I will be working with the players that I bring in. Even with fitness doubts the Belgian national captain will still have a long line of suitors, I would be very surprised if he is still based in Manchester come the start of next season.