News broke earlier today that Leroy Sane will miss around six or seven weeks of action after suffering ankle ligament damage during Man City’s FA Cup Fourth Round win at Cardiff at the weekend.
While Sane is clearly a gifted and influential player, and despite how obviously unfortunate this news is, the fact is that City will hardly miss a beat without the 22-year-old.
Now, that statement may seem harsh – Sane has a wonderful mix of youth and passion for the sport, and is visibly enjoying life at the Etihad. His contribution so far this season must also not be overlooked – he is an important part of Pep Guardiola’s plans.
However, City have effectively already wrapped up the Premier League title this season – no mean feat considering we haven’t even seen January out yet. As well as that, City have an abundance of talent more than capable of moulding round the space Sane leaves behind in the team, and filling in.
The likes of Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne are winning plaudits for their presence this season, and rightly so. Those two players have earned more fantasy points than Sane has this season as well, with Sterling sitting on 78 and De Bruyne on 65 compared to Sane’s 64.
Immediately behind Sane in the points charts at the club however are David Silva (50) and Bernado Silva (32). While these tallies are a fair way behind that of the German international, the latter Silva in particular has seen most of his action coming from the subs bench, with only seven starts this season.
David Silva has actually started more games than Sane and so his place behind him in the points charts would worry in most instances, but the former Valencia star is a player that basically needs no introduction. His 118 caps for Spain attest to that too – he is a player of real quality.
The suggestion, then, is that Bernardo could well take up Sane’s starting berth and enjoy more full games. He will need to improve on those two goals and two assists if he is to rise up the points charts, but with the support of superstars such as those already mentioned around him one would expect him to be able to pick up the baton and run with it quite successfully.
Even then, the likes of Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan are options as well, while Fabian Delph and Yaya Toure seem some way off consideration for this specific role. Perhaps Delph will take Bernardo Silva’s spot on the bench, but that seems about the best available to him at present.
Ultimately, of course, Sane’s absence doesn’t seem likely to contribute to a massive downfall on City’s part – losing the title to local rivals Man Utd now would be an horrendous and frankly unthinkable outcome.
Sane’s news is of course not the best, but he has said himself on Twitter that the injury may not be as bad as first feared and he hopes to start rehab soon, so there is certainly light at the end of this particular tunnel.
So, why not take a look at revamping your strikeforce and getting going on Euro Fantasy League? The game features players from the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga, Eredivisie and Ligue 1. Assemble your dream team and manage your fantasy squad to glory this season!
If you perhaps aren’t quite as familiar with the more continental leagues, then you are also able to play a Premier League-only version of the game. Fantasy Premier is a version of the EuroFantasyLeague game where you will put together your Premier League dream team and compete against others. Check it out now!
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