Medical insider: Man City not telling the whole truth as new Aymeric Laporte images emerge
Aymeric Laporte may have been pictured back in training for Man City but that does not mean he has returned to the group full-time.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in injury and data analysis.
Laporte, 28, underwent knee surgery at the end of 2021-22 and has not played for City since.
The party line from Pep Guardiola in recent weeks has been that the 15-time Spain international would return after the upcoming international break.
City’s media team released pictures on Monday (12 September) of the centre-back back in training.
But Dinnery suggests that this might not be the breakthrough that it may first appear.
“First and foremost, this is always difficult,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“We should always take it with a pinch of salt, but Guardiola talked about Laporte being in contention after the international break. With regards to a full integration into training, that was always likely to take place during the break.
“These images suggest that he is slightly ahead of schedule, but they offer very little context. You shouldn’t consider them in isolation because it’s a very small snapshot in a particular point or moment within a day.
“This is not to say that Laporte is involved in every aspect of training. He may still be working on an individualised programme.
“He has been struggling since early May before having surgery at the back end of the season. The reality is he needs to regain that match fitness and sharpness.
“When you have got a lot of players vying for those defensive spots, that will impact on when Guardiola will want to bring him back into the first-team fold.“
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