“The fact that he visited City tends to suggest just how important this deal is for China and its football ambitions”.
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The City side included a number of fresh faces from their league victory over Southampton on Saturday, but was still packed full of talent, including playmaker David Silva who was making his first start in nearly two months following injury.
“It was important for Silva to play”, City manager Manuel Pellegrini said.
City will look to maintain their place at the top of the league table when they travel to the Britannia Stadium to take on 12th-placed Stoke City on Saturday.
“It will be a really good test but it’s a game that we really believe that we can claim a positive result from”.
The striker and midfielder join Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta on the sidelines, although Joe Hart, Fernando and Jesus Navas are in the squad.
“Every team needs a player like that”, said team-mate Raheem Sterling.
Manchester City’s Wilfried Bony (top), is tackled by Hull City’s Harry Maguire during the English Premier League Cup soccer match between Manchester City and Hull City at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester, England on Dec 1. They are top of the table and more importantly, they are one of the richest clubs in the world. “That depends on the style, in the work, but it is important not to give advantage in the options you have to buy those players”.
“It was the first draw that I saw live, but it’s interesting “one, two, three, four” in a row – are you sure?” he said with a smirk on Sky Sports 1. Whoever plays will test us, but we have good players ourselves and we are looking forward to it. “It will be tough against an important team”.
“We are all very happy to continue in all competitions but we’re not thinking about winning all four competitions – always just the next game”.
“I don’t think that he will be fit for Tuesday, maybe for the next weekend, we” ll see.
“They are dark horse for Europe, even for the Champions League”, he said. Peter Crouch is a doubt for Stoke after suffering a hamstring injury in midweek, but Mame Biram Diouf is set to return after missing the cup game to attend the birth of his child.
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Since the start of last season, De Bruyne has supplied 26 assists – which is more than Lionel Messi or Mesut Ozil and is superior to any other player in Europe’s major divisions.
