Manchester City star absent from first-team training ahead of Manchester United clash

Manchester City have been hit with a significant selection headache ahead of Sunday afternoon's Manchester derby at the Etihad Stadium.

The Premier League champions return to English top-flight action following another international break.

Pep Guardiola's first-team stars played two matches with their respective nations across multiple levels and competitions for the final time before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The obvious concern for all those associated with Manchester City is how many stars would return fully-fit ahead of a crunch run of fixtures across October.

Perhaps in encouraging news for Manchester City, only one player has returned to the North-West with concerns over his fitness.

Nevertheless, the absence will cause a headache for Guardiola as he looks to rotate his squad through eight fixtures in the month.

As reported by Sky Sports News on Thursday morning, John Stones was absent from Manchester City training at the City Football Academy.

🎥 Aymeric Laporte is training with the rest of the Manchester City squad, with the player expected back to full fitness in October

✅ Nathan Ake
✅ Kyle Walker
❌ John Stones pic.twitter.com/mP4Y30dLnc

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 29, 2022

The England international with withdrawn in the first-half of the 3-3 draw with Germany on Monday night following a suspected hamstring problem.

Pep Guardiola's first-team members returned to the club ahead of the Manchester derby on Sunday afternoon, with several previous concerns spotted in training as normal.

In a boost to the entire squad, Aymeric Laporte has continued his road to full fitness, as he trained with the rest of the team once again.

Kyle Walker and Nathan Ake have also trained as normal, following their recent injury problems with Manchester City and after their returns to match action with England and the Netherlands respectively.

Back at #ManCity. 😍🇳🇴 @footballdaily pic.twitter.com/tOqU8Duozv

— City Xtra (@City_Xtra) September 29, 2022

Manchester City fans will be pleased to see Erling Haaland return to the club without a problem too.

The summer signing made two appearances for Norway during the international break, scoring one goal in the process.

His fitness will be crucial to City's success this season, having already scoring 14 goals in his opening 10 games for the club this season.

October also features multiple Champions League games for Manchester City - a competition that the Norwegian forward loves, and seemingly thrives in too.

A home clash against FC Copenhagen will be followed by an away trip to the same side, before returning to Haaland's former club as City take on Borussia Dortmund in Germany towards the end of the month.